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THE 

LANDSCAPE 

GARDENING 

BOOK 



THE 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING 

BOOK 

WHEREIN ARE SET DOWN THE SIMPLE LAWS OF BEAUTY 

AND UTILITY WHICH SHOULD GUIDE THE 

DEVELOPMENT OF ALL GROUNDS 

BY 

GRACE TABOR 




NEW YORK 

ROBERT M. McBRIDE & CO. 

1916 



SBf73 



C OP YR IG HT, I 9 I I , BY 

McBRIDE, W INSTON & CO. 

Copyright, 1916, by 
ROI'.I.RT M. McBRIDE & CO. 



iUH 2 1916 



Revised Edition 
January, 1916 



FEB 28 1916 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introduction i 

II. Utilizing Natural Features 6 

III. The Style of a Garden 29 

IV. Getting Into a Place 41 

V. Vines as Harmonizers 52 

VI. Vistas Good and Bad 62 

VII. Boundaries 73 

VIII. Entrances and Gateways 80 

IX. Deciduous Trees 86 

X. Evergreen Trees 98 

XL The Use of Shrubs 107 

XII. The Place of Flowers 118 

XIII. Winter and the Garden 135 

XIV. The Vegetable Garden Beautiful 143 

XV. Garden Structures 150 

XVI. Garden Furniture and Accessories 157 

XVII. Planting and General Care 164 

Index 175 



List of Illustrations 



A mountain home adapted from the Swiss chalet, in California 

Frontispiece > 

FACING PAGE 

A garden to be lived with 2 

A small place with a formal garden 3 

The lily-pond, Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Mass 20 

An English treatment of a rocky slope 21 

Stone steps in a Cornish, N. H., garden 26 

Nature's shrubbery by a brookside 26 

A lawn spoiled by a flower bed 27 

An old English garden showing the extreme of complicated bedding. 27 

A house in the wildwood left to Nature 38 

A house on the rocks left to Nature 38 

Steps and fountain in the garden of the Villa Lante 39 

Trees and columns in an old Italian garden 39 

The formal entrance to an estate 50 

An informal entrance path 50 

A wooden fence with arbor gateway 51 

An architectural boundary on a small place 51 

The luxuriance of two years' growth 52 

Vines from within a pergola 53 

A wall trellis supporting climbers 53 

Four of the best house vines 58 

Harmony of lines in a widening vista 59 

Harmony of lines in a narrowing vista 59 

An English wall boundary with flowers 68 

Marble against a wall of green 68 



FACING PAGE 

Flower garden secluded by an evergreen hedge 69 

A spruce hedge properly trimmed 69 

Combinations of hedge and stone wall 78 

A boundary at the top of a grade 79 

A landscape boundary 79 

A hedge boundary with lych gate entrance 80 

An entrance flanked by poplars 81 

A doorway in a garden wall 84 

A board fence topped by a lattice 84 

Fence and gate, Longfellow Home, Cambridge, Mass 85 

Arched wooden gateway in an old stone wall 85 

A "house" — and a "home" 86 

Birch trees on a lawn and in the wild 87 

An Italian effect with cedars 98 

The skyline of an evergreen group 99 

Natural planting of young hemlocks 99 

A grass walk and flower border jq^ 

Shrubbery too dense along the base of a house 107 

A shrubbery thicket in bloom 107 

A shrubbery group of one species in many varieties 110 

A flowering hedge HO 

A massing of trees and shrubs creating a vista Ill 

Narcissus naturalized on a river bank 120 

New England asters 120 

An old-fashioned flower garden 121 

The beauty of bare branches 136 

Three shrubs with attractive berries I37 

Unpleasing winter protection 138 

The Christmas rose 138 

Winter's test of the garden I39 

Crocuses in the snow I39 

The charm of order and straight edges 142 



I 



FACING PAGE 

An old garden path with box borders 142 

A garden of vegetables 143 

A sun-dial and rose arbor 150 

A garden shelter mirrored in a pool 151 

An arbored seat 151 

The pergola of the Capuchin Monastery at Amalfi 154 

A well furnished garden 155 

A bird bath 155 

Rude steps and urn in the wild garden 160 

A herm among the roses 160 

A pair of garden benches 161 

An exedra in wood 161 

A garden retreat with carved stone seat and table 162 

A pleached alley 163 



CHAPTER I 

Introduction 

GARDENS do not happen. A Garden is as much the 
expression of an idea as a poem, a symphony, an essay — 
a subway, an ofifice-building or a gown! But ordi- 
narily we fail to recognize this until the actual work of evolving 
a garden lies before us. 

And even then the truth is not always revealed, as witness the 
uncertain efforts which are made — the aimless setting of things 
into the ground here and moving them afterwards to there — 
the lack of coordination ever}' where evident around the greater 
number of places. 

It is as if the bricks and mortar and wood which, properly com- 
bined, will make a house, were assembled on the grormd and then 
arranged by the builder in some sort of way, withotit a plan or 
any specifications to guide him. Something would result, of 
course — but who could foresee the form of that something? 
Not even the builder himself could know what the finished 
appearance of the thing which he was constructing, might be. 
And certainly there would be very little chance of such a dwell- 
ing — if dwelling it proved to be — being either practical or 
beautiful. 

The analogy is extreme perhaps, yet who that has tried, or is 
trying, to develop his place, and has felt the sense of bewildered 

(i) 



2 The Landscape Gardening Book 

helplessness which sometimes overwhelms his aspirations, 
will say that it is exaggerated? To succeed in having only 
trees and shrubs and flowers instead of a Garden — is it not a 
common experience? 

Yet a Garden is what we all want. The vague disappointment 
in an effect, the feeling of incompleteness, of falling short of 
what we hoped for and were seeking to attain, all of these are the 
indication of that desire for a definite something — a something 
so subtle that to express it in words often eludes us, though 
we may feel it ever so keenly. 

Observing that "when ages grow to civility and elegancy, 
man comes to build stately sooner than to garden finely; as if 
gardening were the greater perfection," Bacon went, as usual, 
straight to the heart of the matter. For gardening is the greater 
perfection. Distinguished by refined subtleties that may escape 
even a keen perception, it is probably more elusive than any 
other art; but it is by no means indefinite nor incapable of 
analysis on this account. 

That we fail to attempt such analysis usually comes from our 
failure to appreciate the necessity for it — from lack of a true 
conception of the art. But without such analysis, and the defi- 
nite understanding which it brings, it will rarely happen that 
even the most enthusiastic attempts succeed. 

Suggestions for such analysis are the aim of this volume — to 
help in Garden Making rather than in gardening. There is a 
vast difference; though it is not to be expected that one may 
do the former without learning the latter. Many books, how- 
ever, which deal with gardening in all its branches, are to be had 
for the asking. Therefore plant culture is only touched upon here. 
Indeied, so highly specialized a subject has properly no place 
here, demanding, as it does, volumes devoted to it alone. 



Introduction 3 

The arrangement of the book seeks to offer means for the solu- 
tion of the garden maker's problems in the order in which they 
present themselves to him. Each of these is analyzed rather 
than solved, the solution being obviously something which 
must be individually decided upon, according to individual 
circumstances. 

The standards which are universally acknowledged by the 
greatest students of the subject, are carefully maintained, and 
explained and accounted for, so far as space and conditions will 
permit. Examples are given to suggest the manner of applying 
the knowledge which analysis furnishes. 

Lists of all kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers, designed to 
be of definite, practical value, are given. To this end they 
have been broken up into groups containing only a few of each, 
the arrangement of the groups being made with a view to their 
use as units. Thus the wants of the garden maker who has 
room for only a handful of plants, as well as the one who may 
do work on a forestry scale, are met. And the confusion which 
besets a layman upon reading over the names of fifty desirable 
perennials — all equally desirable, to judge from their description 
— in an attempt to choose something to plant in a ten-foot 
border, is thus, it is hoped, avoided. 

The lists follow each chapter and are complementary to the 
chapter, as far as it is possible to make them so. That they 
contain all the desirable plants in the special classes which they 
represent is of course not claimed for them. They could not, 
possibly, and keep within a rational limit. That they contain 
the most desirable plants in the successive classes, some will no 
doubt question; for many favorites are indeed omitted. But 
that they comprise a wise selection for the actual beginner can 
hardly be denied — and this is the important thing. To this 



4 The Landscape Gardening Book 

standard they have been held, and by it they have been tested, 
and cut down, and simphfied, until they are what they are. 

Many native flowers — "wild flowers" still, some of them — 
are included, preference being given to these wherever conditions 
allow, and whenever an effect will be equally as good with them. 
The height of each plant, wherever height matters, the color of 
its flowers, the form of its inflorescence, and the time of bloom, 
are given, with comments based on each plant's native habit, on 
soil and other features. Suggestions as to the method of 
planting and the best means of securing the plants have also 
been made, and any special requirement or peculiarity of an 
individual has been mentioned. 

To the end that all of this matter might be fully presented, 
the lists have not been arranged in tabular form. Botanical 
names are given precedence over the vernacular, but the com- 
mon name follows closely and identifies the plant, if it need 
identification. The index includes both. 

The lists and the diagrams of plantings may be used literally, 
or they may be used as suggestions only. Combinations may 
be formed of several of them, for extensive plantings; or one 
group may be adapted to a large area by increasing the numbers 
of each kind of plant which it contains. Where this is done it 
is better to increase greatly the number of two or three kinds 
and let them dominate the group, rather than to increase the 
nimiber of each kind equally. Those marked with an asterisk 
are the best to plant in greatest number, in each group. Many 
of a few kinds are always better than many kinds — and constant 
restraint is necessary in planting, else the lovely simplicity will 
be lost, and the beauty of line and mass destroyed completely. 

Go slowly ; practice rigid self-denial in the matter of varieties ; 
learn, by stem discipline, resignation to the unalterable fact that 



Introduction 5 

everything will not go into one garden. When this is learned, 
then — and not till then — it is possible to go cheerfully ahead in 
the happy task of making the most out of what may be put there. 
And then the Garden Making will have grown to be a joy. 



CHAPTER II 
Utilizing Natural Features 

EVERY plant in the world that springs up naturally in any 
spot, has selected that particular spot because it finds 
there the conditions of light and air and moisture best 
adapted to its needs. In other words, 3^ou will find that every 
square foot of soil all over this round earth is covered by the 
vegetation that likes that particular kind of soil and location — 
and other things will not grow there without a struggle. 

Of course this is the statement of a perfectly obvious fact — 
yet it is not so very long ago that the owner of a charming coun- 
try home complained to me of the fruitlessness of all his efforts to 
establish a smooth and conventional lawn at one side of his house 
"because water would settle there in spite of all that he could 
do. ' ' Subsequent investigation revealed a group of little springs 
under the fine old trees — Nature's marvelous provision for a 
multitude of wild, elusive things of exquisite beauty which defy 
domestication in the ordinary garden. 

He gave up trying to defeat Nature's purpose by filling in 
what he had always regarded as a miserable, low, wet, soggy 
area and, taking Nature's hint, he now has a lovely and unusual 
bit of garden where pitcher plants, orchids, trilliums, iris and 
ferns mingle genially with other less familiar bog-loving things. 
The whole is deftly inclosed and hidden from the outer world by 

(6) 



Natural Features 7 

a grouping of marshmallow and tall, reedy grasses ; and not the 
least of the joys of this garden is its startling unexpectedness. 

All of which points a moral, does it not? — a moral that leads 
to a certain very definite rule, which I would urge every maker 
of gardens, actual or expectant, to learn by heart and deeply to 
impress upon his inner mind. Here it is, briefly and simply: 
Plan and plant a garden always along the line of least resistance. 

What with the rain when it ought to be dry and the drought 
when it ought to rain ; the slugs, and the blights of varying form 
but unvarying fatality ; the moths, and the bugs, and the beetles, 
and the borers, and all the other unpleasant things which lurk 
around, determined to evade the wariest and the wisest of those 
who plant either for pleasure or profit, gardening is one of this 
life's most tantalizing uncertainties, the best way we can fix it. 
Therefore we owe it to ourselves and to the patch of ground we 
seek to beautify, to mitigate this unhappy state of affairs as much 
as lies in our power — to make our heads save our hands and our 
backs, and incidentally our garden hopes — by teaching us to 
garden according to Nature's laws instead of against them. 

So we come to the question which should always be the first 
consideration: what has Nature done with the land where you 
are going to build your garden? Before a stone or brick of a 
building is laid or even the style of the house is determined upon, 
this should receive attention; for on a property of any size at 
all it governs not only the kind of garden one is to have but also 
the location of the buildings and their "kind. " 

A wild garden ought not to be actually under one's windows, 
while a formal garden very appropriately may — and the set of 
conditions which calls for the former imperatively, will, quite as 
imperatively, preclude the possibility of the latter, or vice versa, 
thus affecting the position of both house and garden. Plan 



8 The Landscape Gardening Book 

therefore, if possible, before any building is done, both the house 
and the garden. Take every natural feature and peculiarity of 
the land, topographical or otherwise, into consideration. 

Is it rocky or is it stony? — there is a big difference. Is it wet 
or dry? Is it hilly or flat? What is the nature of its soil? 
What can be done with it most easily and simply? What is the 
line of least resistance? 

The very hopelessness of changing things where great boulders 
and shelves of solid rock thrust themselves up through the earth, 
prevents the possessors of such land, usually, from even trying. 
They are convinced from the beginning that nothing will grow 
there, so what is the use of attempting to make it? That is, 
they are likely to be thus convinced, if they are unfamiliar with 
plants. 

There are a great many things that will grow there, however — 
not what is seen in common gardens to be sure, but is that not 
in their favor? Distinctly rock-loving plants must have the 
conditions which they like, and these cannot be supplied them 
everywhere. You are fortunate if your location affords them. 

Such species are spoken of sometimes as " alpines, " but this 
is incorrect. True alpines are too difficult for the amateur to 
attempt to grow, as they are at home only above the line where 
trees and shrubs cease, high up in the mountains. Make your 
selection from the long list of rock-loving plants that do not need 
the high altitude — the simple, easily grown, hardy and charming 
things which almost any good nursery carries in stock. These, 
with suitable ferns and mosses, which you may find already 
growing among the rocks, will supply the needs of such a situ- 
ation perfectly. 

The arrangement of such a garden should of course conform 
to Nature's grouping; there should be no attempt at precision, 



Natural Features 9 

either among the plants or in the walks or paths, and the look of 
extreme tidiness which spoils everything but the most formal 
plan, should be avoided like the plague. Keep out the weeds, 
but do not trouble about stray wildings that may take up their 
abode among your treasures. There is as much beauty in com- 
mon toad-flax as there is in many highly prized aristocrats of the 
flowery kingdom — and long feathery grasses are more in keeping 
with rock or wild gardening than closely cut, trim turf ; likewise 
edges should never be sharply defined nor trimmed. 

Stony land requires rather more consideration in the planting 
than in the planning, and is therefore to be considered more 
especially from the horticultural point of view. There is one 
thing to be remembered in dealing with it, however, and that is 
that any attempt at formal design will almost certainly result 
in failure, no matter how carefully it may be planned. The 
reason for this is that the stones are thicker in some places than 
in others, and the soil cannot conserve moisture equally and 
evenly. Consequently the plants will not grow at an even rate — 
which they simply must do in a formal design. Otherwise the 
lines and the proportions will soon be utterly lost. 

Of the bog garden on wet land I have already spoken. If 
there is so much water that it lies on the surface constantly, 
it is better to dig out enough earth at the lowest point to make 
a pool, even though it is a very small one. This will give the 
birds a bathing place, besides furnishing an opportunity to grow 
one or two real aquatics, as well as the other things which love 
dampness, though they do not actually live in water. 

If this pool can be located in the open where it will catch the 
sunlight, have it there by all means rather than in the shade. 
A shaded bit of water is sometimes gloomy and depressing, but 
water in the stmlight has just the opposite effect — it is all light 



lo The Landscape Gardening Book 

and cheer — and cheeriness is essential to the success of any sort 
of garden. 

Stock the pool with a few goldfish — or something more ordi- 
nary if these cannot be had — to keep the mosquito larvae down ; 
and you will have a garden infinitely more interesting than the 
conventional lawn would be, at much less than it would cost, 
both in labor and money, in such a situation. 

Uncleared land, full of rank underbrush and wild growths, is 
not common, because one of the first things that an up-to-date 
development company does is clear away every scrap of growing 
thing. Even the trees are not always spared. But now and 
then one does come across such a plot and it is a great piece 
of good fortune, if handled properly. 

Leave the wild growth along its boundaries and let it form 
the backing for whatever shrubs you may wish to plant, instead 
of mowing down and digging out every thing on the place. 
Many times there are shrubs which, left to grow, will develop 
into as fine specimens as anything you may buy — and the 
advantage of having them native is immense. 

Common elder is much used in shrubbery borders by the best 
landscape architects, also sumach, which grows so freely wild. 
Cornels and viburnums between them furnish more — and more 
pleasing — varieties for general landscape work than any other 
two species in the world, and both are to be found in almost 
any patch of woods or underbrush. The native ivy which some 
call Virginia creeper and others know as woodbine, clambers 
about luxuriantly very often, over all the rest. 

One should, of course, learn to distinguish this from the 
noxious poison ivy, before venturing to handle or plant. To 
the casual observer they resemble each other very much, though 
as a matter of fact there is very little likeness between them. 



Natural Features ii 

The creeper has five leaflets to the leaf — with comparatively 
rare exceptions— while the poisonous plant has only three. 
Avoid, therefore, all tri-lobed climbers. The creeper is a charm- 
ing, graceful thing, and it may be trained over anything you wish 
by giving its twining tendrils something to clutch. 

Little Jack-in-the-pulpits spring up under foot in such a place, 
and often there are lovely ferns hidden away under the rest, 
if you look carefully for them. Keep the character of a spot like 
this unchanged and bring in wild flowers rather than the usual 
garden favorites. And here, as on stony ground, make no 
attempt to carry out formality of design. Nothing is lovelier 
than architectural gardens, in their own distinct and proper 
place — but unsuitably placed they are an abomination. 

Even a very gentle slope affords a charming variation in a 
garden, while a hillside is a fascinating site for both house and 
garden. Yet not infrequently, with the former at least, elabo- 
rate grading is resorted to, to level the place up ; which is proof 
of our unhappy bondage to a conventionality that stifles all 
original ideas. Unless the slope is so steep as to be actually 
impassable, not a particle of grading is necessary. If the getting 
up and down is too much of an effort, a very little cutting and 
filling will break it into terraces, which not only make every 
part accessible but also give a succession of levels, along which 
walks may be carried from which to view the whole 

Where this plan is adopted bear in mind that the entire gar- 
den, whether seen from above or below, is seen at once, unless 
screens of planting are introduced. The design nnjy be formal 
or not, according to outlying conditions, the style of the dwelling, 
the owner's taste, and the evenness of the slope. But land which 
descends sharply at one point and slopes off gradually at others 
is obviously not ready-made for an architectural design to be 



12 The Landscape Gardening Book 

carried out upon it ; therefore the line of least resistance takes 
us to the informal, rambling, quaint, and imexpected upon 
such a site. 

On the other hand, an even, smooth slope seems to demand 
the classic treatment; but the house in this case must conform 
to classic standards as well, else the place is in danger of becoming 
a ludicrous anomaly. This does not necessarily mean a dwell- 
ing patterned after an Italian palace, however. The simple old 
white houses of New England are classics quite as truly as any 
Grecian temple — and in the midst of their prim, old, box-bor- 
dered little gardens, they present far saner and safer models for 
us generally, than those which many are too prone to follow. 

Where the environment of a place is that of the usual suburb, 
and the house is not distinctly unusual, some adherence to 
formal lines is better than utter disregard of them. Formal 
lines afford a transition from the work of Nature to the work of 
man which harmonizes the two; and they may be restricted to 
the most limited area without loss to the design. Attempts at 
broad, sweeping lines in the planning of a typical suburban 
place are a great mistake, under any but exceptional circum- 
stances. 

Park-like effects require acres where the suburban plot meas- 
ures square yards. Efforts to secure such effects within such 
limits only result in making a place seem smaller than it actually 
is. Boundaries and comers may be somewhat thickly and 
irregularly planted, but along the approaches to the house 
regularity should rule, whether it be a turf edge, a row of flower- 
ing shrubs, or a border of perennials. 

Not many places, perhaps, have the features that have been 
here dwelt upon — features that are commonly held to be distinct 
disadvantages, and which sometimes lead to the rejection of land 



Natural Features 13 

because they are present — yet natural variations in even small 
plots are not uncommon. No matter what these may be, be 
sure that they are never a disadvantage if you are willing to study 
them a little, and think and plan. They mean an individuality 
for the place, if they are carefully made its motif, which can never 
be achieved by the most cunningly contrived artificial means. 

Lists of Plants 

Rocky Land 

This list includes plants which may be used where natural 
ledges of rock project through the earth and the soil is thin; or 
where similar conditions have been artificially created. They 
are what are commonly termed " rock garden plants. " Special 
pockets of soil may be prepared for special requirements, under 
the latter circumstances particularly; but where the natural 
condition exists it is seldom necessary to alter the soil. Plants 
are arranged in the order of their flowering. Those marked with 
an asterisk should be planted the more freely. 

IN FULL SUN 

I — Arahis alhida: rock cress; four inches high ; adaptable to any 
dry soil; dense green carpet-like growth; masses of small, 
white flowers ; fragrant ; may be raised from seed, sown and 
transplanted, or sown where it is to grow; blossoms in 
April and May. 

*2 — Papaver nudicaule: Iceland poppy; twelve inches high; 
light, loamy soil, fairly rich; foliage at the ground, the 
flowers raised on straight, leafless, wiry stems; colors clear 
yellow, orange, and also a white ; grown easily from seed, 
which must be sown where the plants are to stand, as pop- 



14 The Landscape Gardening Book 

pies do not transplant successfully ; may not bloom until the 
second year unless sown very early; blossoms in May and, 
if cut freely , on to October. 

3 — Helianthemum vidgare (or H. mutabile — this is a variety of 
vulgare and the name most commonly found in catalogues) : 
rock rose or sun rose; six inches high; will thrive in poor 
soil but should be planted in a protected place, with south- 
em exposure; growth is nearly evergreen, forming thick 
mats; profusion of flowers, yellow in vulgare, pink and 
pinkish white in mutabile; buy plants; blossoms in hot 
weather — usually June or July. 

4 — Geranium sanguineum: cranesbill; eighteen inches high; 
ordinary soil; erect-growing, branched plant, foliage attrac- 
tive and loose; single, large crimson flowers; may be raised 
from seed, sown outdoors; easy to naturalize; blossoms 
from June to August. 

*5 — Sedum Sieholdii: stonecrop; six to ten inches high; sandy 
soil, which must surely be dry in winter; branches growing 
up, then curving downward; the round leaves are bluish 
with a rosy tint at the margins ; flowers rose-colored ; may be 
raised from seed but it is better to buy plants ; blossoms in 
August. 

6 — Silene maritima, flora plena: seaside catchfly, double-flow- 
ered; trailing, and must be planted where its stems may 
hang over a ledge of rock; ordinary sandy loam; white 
flowers which weight the branches down; this does not 
produce seed, therefore it is necessary to buy the plants; 
blossoms in July and on. 



§ Natural Features 15 

IN SHADE 

I — Camptosorus rhizophyllus: walking-leaf fern; fronds four to 
eight inches long, evergreen, growing in tufts and taking 
root at the tips when they touch the ground; requires black 
soil made of leaf mold, and a place at the margin of rocks 
which are always shaded; buy clumps. 

2 — Saxafraga Virginiensis: rockfoil; four to ten inches high; 
dry soil in a cool, shady place, where the intense heat and 
drought of summer cannot reach; foliage low and rosette- 
like; cymes of many small white flowers; buy plants; 
blossoms in April. 

3 — Mttella diphylla: bishop's cap or mitrewort; six to eight 
inches high; soil of rich woods; delicate white flowers in 
slender racemes ; buy plants ; blossoms in May. 

*4 — Gentiana acaulis: stemless gentian; four inches high; likes 
a deep soil, quantities of moisture with thorough drainage 
and a cool location ; crushed granite, rich loam, and meadow 
soil in equal parts make up a compost for it ; clear dark blue 
flowers — the celebrated gentian of the Alps; plants are 
obtainable but they are likely not to live as they seem to 
resent transplanting ; ma^/ be raised from seed indoors and 
transplanted when very tiny; it requires patience as the 
seeds sometimes are a year in germinating, but when once 
established this is a very permanent thing, and a delight; 
blossoms in May and June. 

*5 — Galax aphylla: coltsfoot or beetle- weed; six to twelve 
inches high; soil of humus and leaf mold, in a northern 
aspect, cool, moist and shady; leaves shining and leathery, 
heart-shaped, evergreen, coloring to beautiful bronzes and 
reds in winter; wands of delicate white flowers, lifted on 



l6 The Landscape Gardening Book 

leafless stems well above the plant; buy plants; blossoms 
in July. 
♦6 — Campanula rotundifolia: true harebell or bluebell; twelve 
inches high; any fair soil in a rock crevice that is well 
drained ; bright blue flowers ; easily raised from seed, sown 
indoors in early spring and transplanted; blossoms in July 
and August. 

SHRUBS 

*i — Rhus aromatica: fragrant sumach; usually about three feet 
high but sometimes reaching eight feet ; any soil ; especially 
good for dry and rocky banks, in sun or shade; yellow 
flowers in clusters on short spikes; fruit coral-red; buy 
plants; blossoms in spring before the leaves appear. 

♦2 — Arctostapkylos Uva-Ursi: bearberry; prostrate, forming a 
mass two feet in thickness ; well drained light loam or sandy 
soil, on rocks and banks; evergreen; flowers small, white, 
in terminal clusters; red berries follow; buy plants; blos- 
soms in May. 

3 — Comptonia asplenifolia (or C. peregrina): sweet fern; one 
to three feet high; sterile, dry soil, among rocks; foHage 
fern-like and fragrant ; buy plants ; brown catkins of incon- 
spicuous flowers in May and June. 

*4 — Daphne Cneorum: garland flower; trailing, forming a mass 
twelve inches in thickness; light and well drained soil, in 
partial shade or all sun ; leaves small, glossy and evergreen ; 
many clusters of small pink flowers, very fragrant; buy 
plants; blossoms in early May and at intervals through 
summer. 

5 — Hypericum prolificum: St. John's wort; three feet high; 
sandy or rocky soil, all or partly shaded; stout and dense, 



Natural Features 17 

leaves glossy and dark green; yellow flowers in profusion, 
in cymes; buy plants,- blossoms in July and on to Septem- 
ber. 
6—yumperus Sabina, prostrata: prostrate juniper or cedar; 
eighteen inches to three feet high, prostrate branches; dry 
rocky or gravelly soil will do though a fairly moist sandy 
loam is preferred, in a sunny and open situation; usually 
the branches are long and trailing, and numerously branched; 
evergreen foliage, bluish-green; buy plants. 

Stony Land 
Some of the plants listed here are useful in rock gardening 
also; but the distinction here made between stony land and 
rocky land is such that they fall naturally under this head. 
Stony land means earth which has been deposited under glacial 
action and is full of boulders and round stones. It is sometimes 
dry and sometimes quite moist; not infrequently springs 
aboimd; it is usually well drained however, owing to the pres- 
ence in it of so much loose matter. 

IN FULL SUN 

I — Dicksonia punctiloha: hay-scented or gossamer fern; one to 
two feet high ; dry soil or moist soil well drained ; delightful 
when massed in open places, the plants set eight inches 
apart; buy plants or clumps. 

2 — Phlox suhulata: creeping phlox, ground or moss pink; four 
to six inches thick, creeping, tufted and forming dense mats ; 
dry and sandy banks, up to and around stones and boulders ; 
perfect grotmd cover, moss-like in effect; sheets of white 
and rosy red flowers — the white form, shaded to pink, is the 
best; buy plants; blossoms in May, 



1 8 The Landscape Gardening Book 

*3 — Aquilegia chrysantha: golden-spurred columbine; three feet 
high; sandy, moist, well drained soil; many and large 
flowers, yellow tinted with deep red; may be raised from 
seed easily; blossoms in May or June and remains long in 
flower. 

4 — Saponaria ocymoides: soap wort; six to nine inches high, 
trailing ; easily established in any soil ; loose cymes of bright 
pink flowers ; seeds or plants ; blossoms in June. 

*5 — Asclepias tuber osa: swallow wort, pleurisy root or butterfly 
weed; eighteen inches to two feet high; any well drained 
soil; is a member of the milkweed family; bright orange 
flowers, in numerous umbels; plants or seed; blossoms in 
July and August. 

*6 — Liatris pycnostachya: prairie or Kansas gayfeather; three to 
five feet high; any soil, even very poor; long dense spikes 
of purple-red flowers; raise from seed, sown in the autumn 
early enough for plants to get a start before frost; blos- 
soms in August and September. 

IN SHADE 

*i — Anemone nemorosa: wood anemone; four inches high; rich, 
well drained, sandy loam ; single white flowers tinged with 
purple; will not mind some sun; buy plants; blossoms in 
April and May. 

2 — Sanguinea Canadensis: bloodroot; six inches high; light 
rich soil; solitary white, pink-tinged flowers, one to two 
inches across; will stand sunlight; buy plants; blossoms 
in April and May. 

3 — Dodocatheon media: shooting star, American cowslip or 
American cyclamen; twelve to twenty-four inches high; 
open, moderately rich soil, not dry but well drained and 



Natural Features 19 

cool; leaves clustered at the ground, flower stem erect; 
flowers rose and white, in loose umbels; leaves die down 
after flowering season is over; plant maiden-hair fern — 
Adiantum pedatum — or wild ginger — Asarunt Canadense — 
between and among the plants of Dodocatheon, to take the 
place of its short-lived foliage ; buy plants ; blossoms in May 
and Jtme. 
4 — Smilacena racemosa: false Solomon's seal; eighteen inches 
to three feet high ; moist loamy soil ; stems rise from the 
ground, are not branched, and the plant is flexible and pliant, 
making a graceful mass when planted in numbers; white 
flowers clustered in panicles along the stems with the leaves; 
blossoms in June and July. 

*5 — Sedum spectahile: showy sedum or stonecrop; eighteen 
to twenty-four inches high; said to prefer a rather heavy 
soil but this is not essential, though good drainage is; rose- 
purple flowers in broad, flat cymes; buy plants; blossoms 
in August and remains in bloom until October. 

*6 — Aster corymbosus: native wild aster; two feet high; dry 
rock soil; loose corymbs of characteristic small white 
flowers; may be raised from seed readily; blossoms from 
August on to frost. 

Shrubs for Uncleared Land 
This list gives the careless forms of native growth which will 
harmonize with the character of rough land, and with the natural 
growth allowed to remain as a backing for the planting. These 
may also be used in stony localities. 

I — Amelanchter Canadensis: common shadbush, Juneberry or 
service berry; tree- like, fifteen to thirty feet high; white 
flowers in loose clusters; fruits in June, sweet and edible; 



20 The Landscape Gardening Book 

buy plants; blossoms very early in the spring, sometimes 
before the leaves appear — usually early April. 

*2 — Berheris vulgaris: common barberry; from four to eight 
feet high; many small, bell-like, bright yellow flowers, 
pendant along the branches; fruit abtmdant, bright red, 
ornamenting the bush during much of the winter; blossoms 
in May and June. 

(This is not native but has escaped and is naturalized in 
the east.) 

*3 — Viburnum opulus: highbush cranberry ; twelve feet high; tiny 
white flowers in cymes four inches in diameter ; fruits scarlet, 
remaining all winter ; buy plants ; blossoms in May and June. 

4 — Sambucus Canadensis: common elder; twelve feet high; 
flowers white, in large flat cymes, very fragrant ; fruit is 
ornamental and useful; buy plants; blossoms in July. 

5 — Rhus glabra: smooth sumac; ten to twelve feet high; flowers 
greenish-pink, in characteristic terminal panicles ; foliage a 
gorgeous color in autumn ; buy plants ; blossoms in July. 

*6 — Clethra alnifolia: sweet pepperbush; eight to ten feet high; 
likes a moist sandy soil; white flowers in erect, pyramidal 
spikes ; very fragrant ; buy plants ; blossoms in August and 
late summer. 

Bog Land 
Wet, marshy spots where water settles, or where springs are 
nimierous, is the sort of land referred to here. The banks of 
lakes often present the same conditions. Peat bogs are rich in 
the decomposing mosses which flourish there; for this reason 
they are somewhat different from ordinary bog land, and plants 
which are native to them are especially mentioned as peat bog 
dwellers. 



Natural Features 21 

IN FULL SUN 

I — Hellonias hullata: swamp or stud pink; leaves clustered at 
ground; flower stalk eighteen to twenty -four inches high; 
flowers in three-inch racemes, pink or purple ; grows in both 
sun and shade but always in wet bog earth when in the sim; 
it may be used in drier situations in the shade; buy plants; 
blossoms in April and May. 

*2 — Iris pseudacorus: yellow iris; two feet high; any marsh soil; 
foliage showy; flowers large, bright yellow; plants or roots, 
only; blossoms in May and June. 

3 — Sarracenia purpurea: pitcher plant; flower stalk six to 
eighteen inches high; leaves erect, six to twelve inches long, 
deep purple; peat bog land; flowers large, purple; plants 
only; blossoms in May and June. 

4 — Osmunda regalis: royal fern; may be planted under two or 
three inches of still water, setting the plants so that the 
crowns are just above water; plant two to three feet 
apart where many are used; fronds two to six feet high; 
will bear partial shade. 

*5 — Lobelia cardinalis: cardinal flower; two to four feet high; 
wet places, along the borders of pond or brook, or in water 
two to three inches deep; scarlet flowers in large, showy, 
close, terminal spikes; buy plants; blossoms in July and on 
to September. 

*6 — Hibiscus Moscheutos: swamp rose mallow or marsh mallow; 
three to five feet high ; along streams or in marsh land any- 
where — even salt marsh ; large rose-pink flowers in profusion ; 
buy plants; blossoms in August and September. 

IN SHADE 

*i — Caltha palustris: marsh marigold; ten to fifteen inches high; 
may be planted at edge of stream, in bog, or in water two 



22 The Landscape Gardening Book 

to four inches deep ; flowers bright golden -yellow, sometimes 
two inches across ; buy plants ; blossoms in spring and on to 
June. 

*2 — Cypripedium spectabtle: showy lady's slipper (a native 
orchid); two feet high; flowers white and rose-purple; 
buy plants; blossoms in June. 

3 — Calopogon pulchellus: native orchid; twelve to eighteen 
inches high; at edge of bog; flowers pink-purple, at ends 
of leafless stems; buy plants; blossoms in June and July. 

4 — Veratrum viride: Indian poke or native white hellebore; 
two to five feet ; moist or wet black peat soil ; flowers small, 
yellowish-green; foliage effect is its especial feature; buy 
plants ; blossoms in July. 

5 — Hdbeneria ciliaris : yellow fringed orchid; eighteen to twenty- 
four inches high; spike of brilliant yellow flowers, borne 
at the top; buy plants; blossoms in August. 

*6 — Gentiana Andrewsii: closed or bottle gentian; eighteen 
to twenty-four inches high ; rich, deep, stony soil, along the 
banks of stream or pool; flowers bright blue, closed; buy 
plants; blossoms in August or September. 

Shrubs 

I — Pyrus arhutifolia (or Sorbus arhutifoUa): red chokeberry; 
four feet high and up; damp thickets and swamps; flowers 
white, tinged with red, in corymbs; red and ornamental 
fruits follow; buy plants; blossoms in April and May. 

*2 — Ledum latifolium: Labrador tea; two to three feet high; 
swampy places, sandy and peaty soil, sun or part shade; 
clusters of white flowers; evergreen — the leaves are said 
to have been used during the Revolutionary War for tea, 
hence the name ; buy plants ; blossoms in May and June. 



Natural Features 23 

*3 — Rosa Carolina: wild rose; eight feet high, slender and up- 
right; swampy and moist ground; flowers single, pink, in 
clusters sometimes, two inches in diameter; buy plants; 
blossoms in June on to August. 

4 — Ilex verticillata: black alder or winterberry; eight feet high 
or more ; wet places and swamps , though it grows elsewhere 
also ; flowers tiny and unimportant ; scarlet fruits remain on 
all winter ; buy plants ; plant one staminate plant to a group, 
specifying that all the others shall be the pistillate or fruit- 
ing form ; set the former in the midst of the latter ; blossoms 
in June and July. 

5 — Azalea viscosa: clammy azalea or white swamp honey- 
suckle; four to eight feet high; at home in sandy swamps; 
flowers white, tinged with red, not large but abundant and 
very fragrant ; buy plants ; blossoms in June and July. 

*6 — Cephalanthus occidentalis: buttonbush; four to twelve feet 
high; sandy moist soil or marsh; foliage glossy; tiny white 
flowers in perfect balls; buy plants; blossoms in July and on. 

Aquatics 

Water plants for the pool or stream which is, perhaps, the 

heart of a bog. These are hardy and may remain out all the 

year around, if they are planted below the frost line — that is if 

their crowns are below it. Plantings of these may be made by 

pushing the roots into the mud, or by tying a stone to them and 

throwing them out into a pond or pool, if the depth is too great 

to allow of the other method. These always require full sun. 

I — Peltandra Virginica: water arum; plant twelve inches deep 

in the mud, under water one foot deep, near the margin of 

the pond ; leaves four to six inches long, raised twelve inches 

above the water suggest the leaves of a calla; flowers 



24 The Landscape Gardening Book 

greenish and curious; buy plants; use from one to three 
plants for a clump ; blossoms in Jime. 

2 — NymphcBa odorata: common sweet water lily; floating; 
flowers white and very fragrant, open for three days, from 
simrise until noon; buy roots; plant in quantity, eighteen 
inches apart; plant from April to September, by pushing 
the root into the soft mud until it is covered; one foot of 
water over it is enough at first; when one or two floating 
leaves appear this may be gradually deepened in artificial 
pools; when planting in a pond or large body of water, tie 
roots to a stone as suggested; blossoms in June and on to 
September. 

*3 — Limnanthemum lacemosum: floating heart; may be planted 
in still water five feet deep, though two feet is better; 
creeps or floats on water surface ; foliage mottled and attrac- 
tive ; yellowish- white flowers are abundant, small and dainty ; 
plant in colonies ; buy plants or roots ; blossoms in July 
and August. 

4 — Brasenia peltata: water shield; plant in from two to six feet 
of water ; floating ; greenish and purplish leaves two to three 
inches across — useful for variety in foliage effect; flowers 
inconspicuous, dull purple, at surface of the water ; blossoms 
in June and August. 

5 — Pondeteria cor data: pickerel weed; rises eight to twelve 
inches above the water surface; grows in still or slightly 
moving water about one foot deep; flowers blue, small, in 
dense, short spikes; buy plants and plant in colonies; 
blossoms in July and September. 

*6 — Nymphcea pygmcsa (N. tetragona) : dwarf water lily ; floating ; 
leaves dark green with brown blotches ; flowers white, one 
to one and one-half inches across, freely produced, open for 



Natural Features 25 

three or four days, from noon until sunset ; buy roots ; plant 
as directed for Nymphcea odorata, using many roots for a 
colony, as this does not spread at the root ; blossoms in July, 
August and September. 
Submerged aquatics (these should always be used to aerate 

the water in still ponds): 

I — Anacharis Canadensis, gigantea: giant water weed, water 
thyme, or ditch moss; rank grower but may be pulled out 
and used as a fertilizer if it crowds too much ; useful also in 
aquariums. 

2 — Cabomba viridijolia: Washington grass; fan-shaped, glossy 
green leaves ; plant by tying a clump together and weight- 
ing ; this is not certainly hardy in the north, except in well 
protected ponds; it may be kept from season to season 
however by bringing a clump into the aquariimi in autumn. 

The Average Place 
The garden flowers and the shrubs which adapt themselves to 
all ordinary situations. 

IN FULL SUN 

I — Dianthus barbatus: sweet William; eighteen to twenty -four 
inches high; flower heads in mixed colors, from white to 
pink and deep red, or it maybe had in pure colors; seeds 
or plants ; use in masses ; blossoms in May and June. 

*2 — Iris Florentina: "orris root" iris; two feet high; flowers 
white; large, fragrant and lasting; buy plants or clumps; 
use singly or in groups ; blossoms in May and June. 

*2 — Delphinium, "gold medal hybrids"; hardy larkspur; four 
to seven or eight feet high; blue flowers in spikes sometimes 
two feet long ; buy plants ; group ; set out in October or as 



26 The Landscape Gardening Book 

soon as warm enough in spring; stake when they reach a 
height of three feet ; blossom in June, but, by cutting down 
after each crop has faded, they may be carried on through 
September. 

4 — Hesperis matronalis, alba: dame's rocket or damask violet; 
white ; two feet to thirty inches high ; white flowers, clustered 
in pyramidal spikes ; very fragrant at night ; plants or seeds ; 
group; blossoms as early as June sometimes, and on into 
August. 

*5 — Anemone Japonica, "Queen Charlotte"; Japanese wind- 
flower; two to three feet high; flowers large and semidouble, 
silvery pink ; buy plants ; masses of from twenty up ; blos- 
soms early in August and on until frost. 

6 — Chrysanthemum — hardy pompon varieties; two to three feet 
high; flowers small, double, button-like, in white and all 
shades of yellow and red to bronze ; plants about three feet 
in diameter; may be massed or planted singly; buy plants; 
blossoms early in August and on until after hard frost. 

IN SHADE 

I — Act(Ba alba: white baneberry ; eighteen to twenty-four inches 
high; likes a rich soil; white flowers in clusters; buy plants; 
groups of six or more ; blossoms as early as April sometimes. 

*2 — Cornus Canadensis: bunchberry; six to ten inches high; 
greenish-white flower followed by scarlet berries in a close 
bunch; buy plants; group in masses of twelve or more; 
blossoms in May. 

*3 — Hemerocallis Thunbergii: lemon day lily; twenty-four to 
thirty inches high; likes a moist soil but will do as well 
almost anywhere else ; bears sun perfectly but may be more 




The abrupt transition from one level to another may be made the 
occasion for structural work that in itself adds much beauty 




Elderberry growing wild; a choice and lovely shrub that responds 
delightedly to the attention which it merits 




iriMHMttilSiiPiMMMMlil^^ 



There are places for some flower beds but not for such as tb.ese, and 
never, for any, in the midst of a lawn 




Small wonder that tiicse suggest the pastry cook; little tin cookie- 
cutters have just such whorls and flutings 



Natural Features 27 

luxuriant in partial shade; bulbs or tubers; lemon-yellow 
flowers; blossoms in July and on. 

*4 — Digitalis purpurea, gloxincBfiora: foxglove; four to six feet 
high; flowers in long, erect spires, white and shades of pur- 
ple, rose and lilac; plants or seed; groups of six or more, or 
irregularly through a border ; blossoms in late June and on. 

5 — Cimicifuga racemosa: bugbane; four to six feet high; white 
flowers in rigid, erect racemes, unpleasant smelling; buy 
plants; group; blossoms in July and August. 

*6 — Heuchera sanguinea: alum root or coral bells; twelve to 
eighteen inches high; ordinary soil, sun or shade; robust 
and bushy; bright red flowers in loose spikes; buy plants; 
plant in groups of four or more ; blossoms in July and August. 

shrubs; in full sun 
I — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: golden bells; eight feet high, 
branches spreading, pendulous tips; flowers yellow and 
bell-like, the entire length of the branches, before the leaves; 
buy plants; blossoms in April or earlier. 

*2 — Eleagnus longipes: silver thorn; six feet high; yellowish- 
white, fragrant flowers, wreathed along the branches; fruits 
bright scarlet, olive-like, edible; buy plants; blossoms in 
May. 

*3 — Rosa rugosa: Japanese rose; six feet high; large pink single 
flowers; very showy red fruits; buy plants; blossoms in 
June and at intervals all summer. 

4 — Buddleia variabilis, Veitchii: Buddlea; eight feet high; 
reddish- violet flowers in long, upright, pyramidal clusters; 
foliage suffused with a rosy white, leaves long and slender; 
buy plants ; blossoms in July. 



28 The Landscape Gardening Book 

*5 — Hibiscus Syriacus," ]odnoi Arc": rose of Sharon; twelve 
feet high; very double pure white flowers; buy plants; 
blossoms in July and on to September. 

6 — Caryopteris mastacanthus : blue spirea; five feet high; blue 
flowers in loose clusters, along the upright branches with the 
leaves ; buy plants ; needs some protection winters and may 
kill to the ground like a perennial, but new shoots will come 
up in time to blossom; blossoms in late August and on 
through November. 

shrubs; in shade 
I — Deutzia, "Pride of Rochester": Deutzia; eight feet high; 

double white flowers tinged with pink, in loose clusters; buy 

plants; blossoms in May. 
*2 — Diervilla, " Eva Rathka "iWeigela; six to eight feet high; 

spreading and arching branches; red flowers, abundant, 

the length of the branches; buy plants; blossoms in May 

and sometimes through the summer. 
3 — Cornus stolonifera: red osier dogwood; eight feet high; likes 

wet or damp places; small white flowers in dense cymes; 

branches blood-red and striking in winter; buy plants; 

blossoms in June. 
4 — Ligustrum Ibota: Japanese privet; ten feet high; spreading 

branches ; small panicles of white flowers along the branches ; 

buy plants ; blossoms in June and July. 
*5 — Symphoricarpos vulgaris: Indian currant; six feet high; 

all kinds of soil; flowers inconspicuous, fruit dark red, the 

berries of irregular size; buy plants; blossoms in July. 
*6 — Ceanoihus Americanus: New Jersey tea; three feet high; 

white flowers in a profusion of small upright panicles; buy 

plants ; blossoms in July and sometimes on. 



u 



Tt^'^. L^-^^-'^-^^- 



CHAPTER III 
The Style of a Garden 

ALL the lovely gardens of the world are ours to draw sugges- 
tions from. Let us do just that, and stop there, scorning 
ever to copy. When all is said and done, let us have, here 
in America, American gardens — not imitation Italian, or English, 
or Dutch gardens, or any other sort. 

Italy, in the splendor of its gleaming, time-stained marbles 
and solemn cypress trees, is Italy adorned as its life, its climate, 
its social peculiarities and its evolution through twice a thousand 
years have adorned it. England, with her castles and ancient 
abbeys, and their moats and fish-ponds — relics of feudal days 
and cloistered monasteries — her clipped yews and velvet turf, 
is England after centuries of wars, of invasions, of murders and 
pilferings, and all the shifting conditions of life which these 
things bring. Is it not time we younger folks over here recogni ze 
this, and give up the ridiculous task of attempting to build 
Elizabethan and Italian gardens? Good taste and common 
sense would both seem to indicate that it is. 

There are three factors which have directed the evolution of 
these old-world gardens quite as definitely as they have directed 
the evolution of the races which built them. And these three 
factors are at work here among us now and they will always be 
at work among men, and will always so direct. Climate is one, 

(29) 



30 The Landscape Gardening Book 

though possibly the least important; the life of the people — 
their occupations, temperament, tastes and amusements — is 
another; their economic condition is the third. 

Of these three the first is predetermined beyond man's inter- 
ference; the second is variable; the third is practically fixed, 
as far as a home site is concerned. If an owner's position changes 
economically he moves into the place which that change fits 
him for, whether it is up or down in the scale; and the new 
tenant of the house he has left acquires it because his position, 
economically, approximates the original position of its former 
owner. 

In other words, a place worth $10,000, costing $500 a year to 
maintain, will always be in the hands of owners of the same 
average income, though it may change hands frequently. There- 
fore we may say that its economic position is practically a fixed 
one. 

Plainly then, whatever the amount to be invested in a garden 
may be, it is a matter for consideration most carefully under the 
second factor. This is the factor which stands for the changing, 
shifting, human equation; herein the degree of cultivation, the 
temperament and the taste of the builder will reveal themselves, 
in the production, through living mediums, of something that 
is good or bad, beautiful or ugly, truly artistic or falsely artificial. 

The two great schools of landscape architecture are familiar 
enough; we have all shared, to a greater or less degree, in the 
bitter warfare that has raged between them since the long-ago 
days of Queen Anne — for it was in her reign that the reaction 
against "formalism," which grew into an hysterical obsession, 
first set in. It is doubtful if more belligerent partisans have 
ever represented opposing factions than those who have ranged 
themselves respectively on the side of "formal" and " informal" 



Style 31 

natural — style in garden design. The contempt with which 
the latter have always regarded the former is only equaled by the 
disdain which the former have ever entertained for the latter. 

But it looks very much as if the long controversy were draw- 
ing to a close. Not that it is fought out — oh, dear no! — ^but 
in spite of the resolute defense each faction has made of its chosen 
position, and the tenacity with which it has clung to it, force 
of circumstances is bringing them both on to a common ground — a 
middle ground that is neither strictly formal nor painstakingly 
and laboriously natural, but rather a happy compromise. 

This is precisely as it should be. No amnesty, voluntarily 
but grudgingly declared, could be as binding as this which a 
constantly growing appreciation of the beautiful in art and 
Nature is forcing. And the equilibrium which is thus becoming 
established furnishes the most favorable condition for the develop- 
ment of a national taste and skill in gardening, which shall be 
indicative of and harmonious with national life and character. 

The most ardent adherents of the landscape or natural school 
can hardly claim for it suitability to small areas, yet the small 
area is the typical American home site ; while, on the other hand, 
the loyal advocates of that exquisite perfection of line and bal- 
anced detail which are the formal garden 's structural necessity, 
must admit that these features demand an outlay in the build- 
ing, and a skilled care in the maintenance, far beyond the 
capacity of anything less than a truly plethoric purse. But 
both sides must agree that all buildings, of whatsoever form they 
may be, are artificial — hence, following strictly the logic of the 
"natural" school, are abominations, out of harmony with 
Nature. What is to be done about this? 

The apostle of Nature untamed and free, has tried to answer 
by planting out base lines of buildings and the angles of masonry 



32 The Landscape Gardening Book 

or wood, with vines and low shrubs — but discerning eyes see that 
something still is wrong, though their possessors may not know 
what. A house rising from an irregular planting of trees and 
shrubbery is far better, to be sure, than a house rising bare from 
the ground on which it stands — yet this is not enough. 

There is but one reasonable and logical reconciliation between 
Nature and the artificial. They cannot be brought into har- 
monious relations except by carrying out architectural lines 
beyond the limits of stone or wood, in the more plastic materials 
which Nature supplies, direct out of the garden — namely the 
trees and shrubs. By this means, and this means only, there is 
the gradual transition from Nature wild to Nature tamed, and 
from Nature tamed and brought into a seemly order which 
approaches graciously yet unmistakably towards geometrical 
precision, to the actual and beautiful precision of the artificial 
structure man has contrived, by the aid of his compass and 
square. 

And now it looks very much as if we had reached the position 
of formal and informal, instead of a choice between the two — 
which is exactly the answer to this troublesome question that a 
study of the wonderful old gardens yields. So it develops that 
we have just gone around in a circle and are no farther now than 
when we started! 

Does it? No — for here is the pith of the argument; here is 
what I have been talking all this time to get ready to say. The 
formality of America is individual and distinctly American, 
It is not to be expressed in alien modes, whether of building, 
gardening, salutation, or what not. Upon occasion we are quite 
as punctilious as may be, but we are punctilious in our way, 
and not according to a foreign fashion. 

Therefore we are bound to produce very different results. 



Style 33 

even within the restrictions of conventional lines, from those 
accomplished by other races — if we go quietly along and permit 
ourselves to develop. Let us not refuse to be guided by the 
fundamental laws which govern proportion and design; but, 
within these laws, let us create something beautiful ourselves. 

The first of these fundamental laws or principles assures us 
that a formal, architectural, or conventional garden must con- 
tinue along one of the principal axes of the house. If it cannot 
do this no attempt should be made to have such a garden. And 
any formal design, of even the most limited extent, must be car- 
ried out on the axis of some feature of the house, such as an 
entrance, a porch, a large window, or some important detail. 

This latter rule unerringly picks out the prominent architec- 
tural lines which may be carried on beyond the wood or stone 
of the building, although the building itself is absolutely irreg- 
ular; and it supplies the necessary motif for planting even the 
tiniest dooryard — which, by the way, ought always to be planted 
upon such a motif. 

The smaller the garden area the more strict should be the 
adherence to conventional lines, though they need not approach 
the limits of a 50 x 100 foot suburban plot, by any means. 
Rarely, indeed, does the average suburban house lend itself to 
any very extensive formal scheme, for it itself is seldom laid out 
upon the regular lines of more pretentious dwellings. Some 
detail must therefore be chosen to work from — and usually this 
will be the entrance, it being naturally the most prominent. 
With this well worked up and well blended into the general 
scheme, conventionality may stop right here, and broader lines 
may be followed in the rest of the work. 

Planning, however, is not all that there is to a formal garden. 
The lines laid down must be carried out with material suited to 



34 The Landscape Gardening Book 

them, for unless this is done the whole will inevitably fail. 
Plants are as different in their manners as people, and quite as 
likely to look and seem queer, when put in the wrong places. 
Stiff and prim little trees and shrubs are to be had in plenty — 
but they must be of a shape conforming to the position which they 
are to occupy; and though a tangle of flowers may fill a given 
space iji the formalest of gardens, the space itself must be set 
aside in a distinct and precise manper. 

Evergreens furnish such a variety of shapes, from Gothic 
to globular, that they are naturally much used in architectural 
planting. Formal design becomes, therefore, especially desira- 
ble in places where winter effect is sought, as an aid to this 
effect as well as a means of transition from Nature to man. 
Let there be wildwood, and daisy-studded meadows, and grand 
old trees, and parklike sweeps of lawn by all means, wherever 
there is space. But do not outrage these by setting in their 
midst an artificial excrescence in which to dwell, without softening 
the affront as much as lies within your power, by all the means 
at your command. 

Even if there were no beauty in formality this need for it 
would be argument enough in its favor. But it is beautiful; 
i*n and by itself, it possesses a serene and stately beauty absolutely 
tmrivaled. It is only the extravagant abuse of it that is un- 
desirable — but is extravagance ever anything else, whatever 
form it takes ? And is intemperance ever anything but vulgar ? 

Lists of Plants 

Plants for formal gardening are divided into two classes : the 
untrimmed and untrained natural forms, and the trimmed and 
trained artificial forms. In the first class there are columns, 



Style 35 

pyramids, globes and standards; and therefore this class 
contains, as a matter of fact, all the material required in formal 
planting. These possess great advantages over the plants of the 
second class, inasmuch as their care is practically nothing at all. 
Clipped forms must be constantly watched and kept in shape by 
ever repeated shearings, at the proper season — and it requires 
no mean sculptural skill to maintain them in perfect symmetry. 

Evergreens furnish a large proportion of the material for for- 
mal gardening, though deciduous specimens are by no means 
lacking. Formal hedges must of course be sheared, whichever 
may be used, for nothing but shearing will develop the density 
of the growth, or keep it perfectly equal and true to the trim 
lines laid down. 

Evergreens should be sheared just before the season's growth 
starts — in March or April— while they are being developed ; that 
is, while they are being allowed to grow. After they have 
attained the desired size, they should be sheared annually, in 
June. Deciduous plants may be sheared in spring, just after the 
growth starts, and twice during the summer, as may be necessary 
to keep them in shape. Winter clipping induces strong growth 
of shoots usually and where this strong rank growth is desirable, 
winter pruning may be done. It will encourage density of growth 
also and is useful therefore when the plants are not as large as 
desired, or as bushy. 

Hedge Plants 

evergreen 
I — Tsuga Canadensis: common hemlock; makes an impene- 
trable, dense green wall of any desired height up to fifteen 
feet; prefers a rather moist soil, well drained; the most 
beautiful of all evergreens for a hedge; stands pruning 



36 The Landscape Gardening Book 

perfectly; plant two to three-foot plants eighteen inches 
apart ; take off the tips of the leaders and of all branches 
in March or April, until large enough to shear; when this 
size is reached, trim as directed, in late May or June. 

2 — Thuya occidentalis: American arborvitae; grows naturally 
in moist places but does well when planted in any ordinary 
soil ; plant and trim the same as hemlock ; will require very 
little clipping on the sides at first, as the width is not great 
for the height. 

DECIDUOUS \_ \ ^ "^ ^ K f^^ 

I — Ligustrum Amurense: Amo^r • privet ; grows to fifteen feet 
high; any soil and will not mind shade; set three-foot 
plants nine inches apart, in a trench twenty-four inches 
deep ; this plants them six inches deeper in the ground than 
they were ; trim the tops evenly at a height of five inches 
after the hedge is planted, and trim away the tips of all 
side shoots; keep low until a dense base growth is well 
established. 

2 — Fagus sylvatica: European beech; to any desired height; 
loamy soil; the bronze-gold leaves persist all winter; they 
are large and the character of the hedge is less solid in 
appearance than privet, though it makes an impenetrable 
screen, winter and summer; set two or three-foot plants 
twenty-four inches apart; prune before growth starts each 
spring and trim off straggling shoots at any time afterwards ; 
especially desirable for high and large hedges. 

(All hedges, whether evergreen or deciduous, should be 
trimmed narrower at the top than at the base. The ideal form 
is a straight-sided or a slightly convex-sided wedge* in the 



Style 37 

former the top is flattened to a width equal to half the base, in 
the latter it is not flattened at all but is an actual wedge form.) 

Edging for Beds and Walks 
I — Buxus sempervirens , suffruticosa: dwarf boxwood; four to six 
inches high; set four-inch plants four inches apart; protect 
lightly with litter from hot sun during the first two or three 
winters after planting. 

2 — Ligustrum ovalifolium: California privet; any soil and will 
do perfectly well in shade; may be kept trimmed to four 
inches in height — when this is done the leaves become small 
and the general appearance very like boxwood; Am^pr 
privet may be treated in the same way. 

Columnar— Natural Forms 
evergreen 

I — Juniperus Virginiana: red cedar; may attain forty or fifty 
feet in time; any soil — poor and stony, or low and damp 
ground, or even immediately on the seashore; nearest 
approach to the classical cypress form, but may not retain 
this in extreme old age, as it has a tendency to lose its lower 
branches and spread into picturesque irregularity at the top. 

2 — Thuya occidentalis, pyramidalis: pyramidal arborvitae; finally 
reaches thirty feet in height; prefers a moist, loamy soil; 
very slender and spire like. 

3 — Juniperus communis, Suecica: Swedish juniper; attains to 
forty feet in height ; any soil ; narrow and slender ; light 
bluish-green in color. 

DECIDUOUS 

I — Populus nigra, Italica (P. nigra, fasiigiata): Lombardy 



38 The Landscape Gardening Book 

poplar; sixty feet high; any soil; rapid growing; effective 
when used after the manner of the old world cypress. 

Columnar — Trained Artificial Forms 

EVERGREEN 

I — Buxus sempervirens : boxwood; three to five feet high; grows 
slowly and therefore does not require much shearing. 

2 — Tsuga Canadensis: hemlock; may be kept at any height; 
shear in the same manner as when used for a hedge. 

DECIDUOUS 

I — Ligustrum: privet; from three to seven feet high; retains its 
leaves during winter, so is actually half evergreen ; shear the 
same as when used for a hedge. 

Pyramidal — Natural Forms 
evergreen 
I — Thuya occidentalis, Sihirica: Siberian arborvitae; to thirty 
feet high, of slow growth ; loamy soil ; broad at base and 
tapering ; dense ; brighter green than other arborvitajs. 

2 — Reiinospora pisijera, plumosa {ChamcBcy parts pisifera, plu- 
mosa): Japanese or Sawara cypress; three to eight feet 
high and same width at base ; moist but well drained sandy 
loam, partly shaded, and sheltered from drying winds. 

3 — Reiinospora ptsifera, squarrosa (C. pisifera, squarrosa) : blue 
Japanese cypress; same as above; foliage silvery-blue, dense, 
feathery. 

There are no deciduous natural pyramidal forms. Pyramidal 
trained artificial forms, both evergreen and deciduous, may be 
had in the same varieties as the Columnar forms. 




A house in the wildwood nestling among trees is one of the few dwell- 
ings whose approach does not require at least a modicum of formality 



ijiiM 




Another exception to the demand for formal treatment is the 

house which rises from rock formation; the third is the bungalow 

crouched upon sand dunes 




A bit from the Villa Lante; structural work of this sort should never be 
undertaken unless the dwelling harmonizes perfectly 




The mellow, time-worn gardens of Italy and the Old World generally, 
may be rich in suggestion but ought never to be slavishly imitated 



Style 39 

Globular — Natural Forms 

evergreen 

I — Thuya occidentalis, glohosa: button-shaped arborvitae; two 

feet high and the same in diameter ; bright green foliage. 
2 — Thuya occidentalis, "Little Gem": dwarf arborvitae; two feet 
high, broader than high; moist, loamy soil; dark green foli- 
age. 

DECIDUOUS 

I — Viburnum opulus, nanum: dwarf viburnum; two feet high, 
broader than high; common soil; compact and well formed 
and holds its shape. 

2 — Catalpa hignonioides, nana (C. Bungei): dwarf catalpa; 
three to eight feet high, eight to ten feet in diameter; any 
somewhat moist soil; will do well at the seashore; large 
leaves and luxuriant growth. 

Globular — Trained Artificial Forms 
evergreen 
1 — Thuya occidentalis: American arborvitae; shear as directed 
for evergreen hedges. 

deciduous 
I — Ligustrum: privet; shear as directed for hedge. 

Standard or Bay Tree Forms 
(These are always artificially produced.) 

EVERGREEN 

1 — Buxus sempervirens : boxwood; stems up to eighteen inches 
high; heads to two feet in diameter; should be shaded from 
the midday sun of winter; give light winter protection 
for two years after planting. 



40 The Landscape Gardening Book 

DECIDUOUS 

I — Ligustrum: privet; stems from two to six feet high, as de- 
sired; heads three to four feet in diameter; half evergreen, 
retaining its leaves all winter ; must be sheared to maintain 
its form; small leaves and dense, compact growth; shear as 
directed for hedges. 

2 — Catalpa Bungei (C. hignonioides, wawa— grafted high): bay 
tree form of catalpa; stems six to eight feet high; heads 
eight to ten feet in diameter ; this retains its form naturally 
and does not require shearing at any time ; large leaves and 
heavy foliage, making dense heads. 

Arches and Niches 

evergreen 

I — Tsuga Canadensis: hemlock; may be bent and trimmed in 

any desired form ; shear same as directed for hedges. 
2 — Thuya occidentalis: American arborvitae; shear same as 
directed for hedges. 

DECIDUOUS 

I — Ligustrum: privet; may be pleached — woven together- 
and trimmed as desired ; shear same as directed for hedge. 



I 



* 



CHAPTER IV 
Getting into a Place 

IT is the fashion of some landscape architects to consider all 
roads or walks as simply necessary evils, to be slid over 
and made as inconspicuous as possible — and then forgotten. 
This has always seemed to me, however, a rather extreme view 
to take of a thing so essential as our exits and our entrances — 
a view that is likely to lead to over-elaborate efforts at con- 
cealment of them. This in turn leads to freakish results — or is 
liable to. 

Entrances we must have, therefore let us first of all be frank 
with them. And then let us spare no pains to have them beau- 
tiful ; for the entrance gives to the whole place its characteristic 
first impression. But to make them beautiful we must find out 
very carefully, at the outset, what constitutes a beautiful 
entrance. 

The beauty in a gateway itself — the entrance in a narrow sense 
— is secured, I should say, first of all by suitability. But gate- 
ways we will leave to a chapter by themselves, and deal 
here with the plan, on the ground, of the approaches from the 
highway. These constitute the entrances in a broader sense, 
being the way in ; and their arrangement is the first thing to be 
considered and decided upon when developing the layout of a 
place. They are one of the absolutely vital features. Indeed 

(41) 



42 The Landscape Gardening Book 

it is not too much to say that more places are ruined by badly 
located driveways and walks than by any other one thing. 

No absolute rule can be formulated for laying out a walk or 
a drive. Generalities for certain circumstances may be de- 
veloped, but no certainties for general application reward even 
the most earnest study — excepting this: Walks and driveways 
should always be direct — as direct as the line that a tired man 
or a lazy man or a hurried man, coming into the house or driving 
to the stable, would naturally follow. 

I am perfectly sure that no one can go wrong in placing a 
gateway, or mapping a walk or drive, who understands this one 
truth, and acts upon it intelligently. 

Let us take a glance into the realm of psychology for a moment 
— after premising that the location of the house and all other 
buildings, being governed by the formation of the land and other 
local conditions, has been decided upon before the question of 
entrances comes up at all. It should be ; the very choicest site 
which the land affords should be selected, regardless of how the 
drive or walk is to reach it, or where the gate is to be. There 
is never any kind of path, anywhere in the world, that does not 
lead to something that was there before it. 

Given, then, a house situated where you want it on the land; 
fronting in whichever direction is to the greatest advantage, 
according to the arrangement of its rooms; with its doors and 
windows placed where they are under the twin considerations 
of convenience and beauty; locating the gateway and mapping 
the walks and drives become problems of psychology, pure and 
simple. 

Lives there a man who does not want to cut across the lawn ? 
Even though it may save him less than half a dozen steps to do 
so, the impulse is nearly always there. Why is it ? Why does 



Walks and Drives 43 

this tantalize him and keep him ever on his guard against yield- 
ing to it ? Why this wellnigh irresistible desire to go some other 
way than along the walk laid out ? Is it just human nature — or 
is there a reason for it? 

Undoubtedly it is, just human nature; but there is a reason 
for it, even so. And there is a way of getting at the reason — 
which brings us to psychology, does it not? For this great 
science of the mind is surely, after all, first the science of human 
nature — the science of analyzing and classifying those curious 
twists which individualize us. 

In this matter of walks it resolves again into the line of least 
resistance. Indeed this is continually revealing itself as the 
most compelling influence. Therefore the highest degree of 
success attainable in mapping a walk lies in working with it — 
in humoring whimsical human nature, which after all is not 
altogether as unreasonable as it sometimes seems. In other 
words, it lies in placing a gate at the psychological point and a 
walk along the psychological line. The walk or drive — I must 
be understood as referring to both in all generalizations — that 
carries a capricious human creature to a given point, without its 
having occurred to him that a difference in direction here or 
there would get him there with completer satisfaction to his soul, 
is a success. That is unquestionably the supreme test. 

But how are we to determine this line? And will it not 
interfere sometimes with a great many important things, if 
literally followed? 

To the latter, yes it will — sometimes — if literally followed; 
to the former, we are going to determine it by predetermining 
just where it shall fall. That is, we are going to create the con- 
ditions which will establish the direction we wish it to take, 
instead of accepting the direction established by conditions as 



44 The Landscape Gardening Book 

we find them — providing of course that conditions as we find 
them do not already direct it along the easiest, best and most 
generally beautiful course. 

On a large place this is as likely to be the case as not, if the 
ground is rolling. Long, sweeping curves will come naturally 
from following the easiest grade and avoiding mounds and 
hummocks. But with less land, natural contours are less 
varied ; and something must be done to supply the lack of them. 
Vfhatshallitbe? 

Decide, in the first place, at what point of the grounds travel 
towards the house naturally focuses. If you will notice where 
your own steps tend to leave the sidewalk and stray truantly 
across the lawn, or the place where the lawn is going to be, 
you will easily fix this point. Then, starting from it, determine 
the course that is ideal for the walk to follow — the course which 
will suit you perfectly as you walk over it, and that will look 
best from house, grounds and street. This will almost never he a 
straight line. 

When it is found, if no excuses exist for its deviation from a 
straight line, provide them. Plant a tree squarely in the way, 
with another near enough to give both the appearance of 
happening to be there. Reinforce these with groups of shrubs 
if necessary, which the walk will have to avoid. Lead and coax 
it along in this way until, adjusting itself to the obstructions 
you have furnished, it follows your own sweet will, with nothing 
to hint that it could have taken any other course. 

In view of the fact that the " direct ' ' line is usually interpreted 
to mean a straight line, this will of course seem to be an absolute 
contradiction of the one general rule with which we started. But 
the direct line, as a matter of fact, is almost never a straight line, 
running at a right angle from the street. It is instead a direction 



Walks and Drives 45 

line, which bears off from the street at the point where the mind 
and the feet naturally turn towards the house entrance, leading 
to that entrance irresistibly yet not violently. 

The tired individual, sauntering homeward, will very rarely — 
indeed I doubt if he will ever — find it the natural thing to walk 
to a point directly opposite the house door, turn a right-about- 
face, and walk in, in a beeline, and up his front steps. And it 
is not fatigue, as a matter of fact, that makes the idea of doing 
this irritating. It is the lack of actual directness, and the 
violent interruption in the force which is impelling him forward, 
which his feet and his subconscious mind are aware of, even 
though his active consciousness may not be. 

The small suburban place, with its restricted area, offers 
possibly the most difficult problem of all, in this as in other 
respects. Its limitations are decided, and conventional ugliness 
has long been accepted as the proper thing — indeed, the only 
thing. In fact the small suburban place, commoner than any 
other kind of place in the land, is the one thing which we go on 
uglifying year in and year out, in Simian imitation each of the 
other. There is almost never an attempt to break away from 
the commonplace treatment that makes all such places ordinary 
and uninteresting. 

Once in awhile, however, something is done which gives a hint 
of the possibilities of even such places as these. And on the 
next page is a little diagram showing a departure from the 
tiresome old ways, which illustrates some of the things I have been 
saying. The arrangement of the entrances is of course the 
feature which makes this place so different from all others. 
But it is worth while to note that, by planning these as they are, 
the whole place is vastly improved and much space saved. It 
is therefore an excellent example of good landscape gardening. 



46 



The Landscape Gardening Book 




Originally there was the usual walk, leading straight from the 
sidewalk to the front steps of the dwelling. This of course cut 
the already small lawn into two parts, the two patches being, 
each about eighteen by twenty-five feet. The lot is fifty by 

one hundred. The walk to 
the kitchen was where it is 
now, and had to stay there 
because of the general plan of 
the house. Only two courses 
therefore were open as a 
means of improvement. 

One was to move the point 
of departure of the kitchen 
walk from the sidewalk, along 
six feet to the left ; to broaden 
this walk to four feet, and 
branch it into a Y when 
within six feet of the house. 
The right arm would then 
disappear^ as kitchen walk, 
aroimd the corner of the build- 
ing, while the left would termi- 
nate at the foot of the steps. 
This would of course have made one gateway and one walk, 
for a certain space, serve two entrances. And the disadvantages 
of having a service entrance and a main entrance the same, even 
on a very small place, are obvious. But this was not the only 
thing which decided against such an arrangement as that just 
outlined, and in favor of the scheme as it is here shown. The 
tmalterable way in and out to this place is at the left hand corner. 
That psychological influence which is forever at work in this 










A typical suburban lot redeemed by an 
unusual arrangement of walks 



Walks and Drives 



47 



matter, so decreed. Its decree was accepted and wisely fol- 
lowed — and the result is an absolute verification of the principle. 
There was no hedge and almost no planting of any kind when 
the tests were made to determine the location of this important 
point. It was therefore an exceptional opportunity to observe 
the impulse, not only of those living in the house, regarding it, 




&v^b{ 



Plan A — Planting detail of entrance 
walk as shown 




Plan B — Planting detail of a slightly- 
different arrangement 



but of casual visitors as well. And all kinds of subterfuge were 
resorted to, to trick the imwary and lure them into wandering in, 
across the little squares of green that lay on either side of the 
prim granolithic walk. 

Nine out of every ten left the sidewalk just where the gate is 
now — and the tenth looked longingly at that point, though he 
kept dutifully to the walk. None made the exact right-angle 
turn at the porch which the walk shows ; but a group of shrubs 
close to the walk, in this angle, backed up by a tree which shades 
the porch, deludes one into going that way now, willingly and 
contentedly, because it is plainly the most direct — or seems to 



48 The Landscape Gardening Book 

be. The sharp turn was used because the small amount of space 
made it important to conserve every foot of lawn surface. A 
curve would have sacrificed a little ; and though it would have 
been better, strictly speaking, it would not have been enough 
better in so small an area to make up for the loss. 

The house was a rambling affair, irregular enough and informal 
enough to have almost any kind of a garden, except a formal 
one. So the hedge- enclosed front lawn was planted with a 
border of old-fashioned flowers on two sides, with more against 
the house for good measure. To provide a way out to the 
kitchen entrance, as well as a private way in from that side if one 
happens to need it, a line of stepping stones was carried across 
the front, past the bay window, to a wicket in the half hidden 
hedge. 

Similar stones at the end of the porch prevent the tramping 
down of the grass which is sure to result from much running 
across in such a situation. Always remember, by the way, to 
put two stones at the end of such a line. These divert footsteps, 
now this way, now that, so that the grass will be worn evenly 
instead of just in one place following the last stone. 

By shifting the front walk on this place the dimensions of the 
lawn became 42 x 25 feet, the former being the distance across 
the front from the inner side of the hedge which excludes the 
kitchen walk, to the inner side of the boundary hedge opposite. 
This increased area is all in one undivided stretch of greensward, 
which makes it appear even more of an increase than it actually is. 

The kitchen walk is utilitarian, pure and simple, yet passing 
between the two rows of hedge as far as the comer of the house 
and between vine-covered house and hedge from there on, it is 
by no means unattractive. A stout gate admits it to the kitchen 
yard, which is completely latticed. 



Walks and Drives 49 

The sidewalk remains of cement, but once inside the front 
gate — painted white, this is hung between white posts, above 
which the privet of the hedge is trained to form an arch — there 
is no longer a sign of such massive material. The house walks are 
both appropriately graveled as becomes a simple cottage scheme. 
The hedge is trimmed at shoulder height, rising higher, as already 
mentioned, at the gate. The seclusion of the place is delightful, 
yet it is not at all shut in. 

There is much about this little place that is generally suggest- 
ive and helpful. Walks and drives are simply longer or shorter 
according to the distance they must cover; they are never very 
different one time from another, excepting on uneven ground. 
And even here there is no method of laying them out better than 
the one described — of this I am long since convinced — unless 
the circumstances are very exceptional. 

Plants Used 
plan a — partial shade 

I — Daphne Mezereum: Mezereon pink; three to four feet high; 
any soil, said to prefer a light rich one and part shade — will 
do well in sun however and even in dry soil; flowers deep 
red-purple, very fragrant, close along the stems in twos and 
threes; blossoms in March, sometimes in February, long 
before the leaves appear. 

2 — Berheris Thunhergii: Japanese barberry; four feet high; any 
soil; low and dense, horizontal-branching shrub; flowers 
pale yellow, small, strung along the branches like little 
inverted cups; blossoms in April and May; scarlet berries 
follow which remain all winter. 

3 — Deutzia corymbiflora: Deutzia; four feet high; any soil; the 
branches are long and slender and spreading ; white flowers 



50 The Landscape Gardening Book 

in large clusters at the ends of branches and twigs, covering 

the bush ; blossoms in June. 
4 — Cornus sanguinea: variety of cornel; twelve feet high; any 

soil, sun or shade; greenish- white flowers in dense, round, 

flat clusters; blossoms in May and June; black fruits follow; 

the branches of this shrub are a deep blood-red in winter 

and very decorative. 
5 — Syringa vulgaris: common lilac; twelve to twenty feet high; 

any soil will do but a moderately moist one is preferred ; 

familiar lilac-colored flowers ; blossoms in May and June. 
6 — Acer rubrum: red maple tree ; reaches one hundred and twenty 

feet high in time ; any soil ; the earliest of the trees to flower, its 

scarlet blossoms appearing in March or April ; very gorgeous 

in autumn color. 

PLAN B — FULL SUN 

I — Chrysanthemum — hardy pompon type ; two to three feet high ; 
any soil; flowers in greatest abtmdance, small and button- 
like, in white, all shades of yellow to deep coppery-bronze 
and all shades of mauve-pink to deep maroon ; keep to one 
or the other of the two latter color divisions in selecting, 
and do not attempt to use both; blossoms in September 
and on until frost cuts the plants down. 

2 — Deutzia corymbiflora: as described in the list for Plan A. 

3 — Lonicera Morrowi: Japanese bush honeysuckle; six feet high; 
any garden soil; flowers white, turning to yellowish; blos- 
soms in May; covered with ruby berries from late in July 
on through the summer and until hard frost. 

4 — Diervilla hybrid, Pascal: hybrid Weigela; six to eight feet 
high; branches erect, arching and spreading; deep red 
flowers in great abtmdance covering the bush down to the 




The perfectly l)ul;uiee 1 house may be ai^pr' );nhe'l by a dii-ect entrance but the effect 
of such an approach is not always gracious 




Even a very small lawn area acquires spaciousness and dignity if its mass is un- 
broken by the entrance walk 




1 



An entrance marked with an arch and gate like this gives distinction 
and character to the simplest kind of enclosing barrier 




This architectural boundary does not shut out a glimpse of the garden 
beyond, yet it is definitely a line between the outer world and the inner 



» 



Walks and Drives 51 

groimd; blossoms in Jtme and sometimes again later in 
the summer. 

5 — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: weeping Forsythia or golden 
bells; eight feet high; branches arching and tips touching 
the ground; yellow bell-like flowers along every branch 
and twig; blossoms before the leaves unfold in early spring; 
attractive in foliage. 

6 — Spiraea VanHouttei: VanHoutte's spirea; six to eight feet 
high ; any soil ; slender arching branches ; dense round clusters 
of tiny white flowers, burying the bush; blossoms in May 
and June. 

7 — Rosa rugosa: Japanese rose; six feet high; any soil, in sun; 
large single flowers, white (alba) or rose-colored (rosea); 
blossoms abiindantly, in June and on throughout the sum- 
mer imtil late in the autumn; flowers followed by very 
ornamental red hips or berries that persist all winter. 

8 — Hydrangea paniculata, grandtflora: great-panicled hydrangea; 
might reach twenty feet in height but is usually kept back 
by pruning, which helps to produce finer bloom; any well 
drained soil, with plenty of moisture; enormous panicles 
of white flowers; blossoms in August and holds the clusters 
until late autumn; color changes from white to pinkish 
lilac. 



CHAPTER V 

Vines as Harmonizers 

IT would scarcely appear at first glance that vines need occupy 
the attention of the landscape gardener for very long, or 
that they hold a place very peculiarly their own in land- 
scape work. Yet they are possibly the one class of plants upon 
which we are dependent more than any other, in every circum- 
stance, and whether the work to be done is very great and pre- 
tentious or very humble and modest. For vines — or to speak 
more accurately, climbers — are a paramount necessity at the very 
beginning. 

Nature, sober, staid and dignified, objects, I take it, to being 
surprised. Witness how aloof she holds herself from any newly 
finished work of man, until even the most tmimaginative feel 
her absence and are chilled. And of course the work of man is 
a surprise! Possibly it is a presumption — certainly it is arti- 
ficial and unnatural — and possibly her averted face is no more, 
indeed, than a very justly deserved rebuke. 

But, however that may be, if man, with tmderstanding of 
Nature's peculiarities and acknowledgment of his own crude- 
ness, will offer her the apology which is implied in an appeal to 
her for aid, she is graciousness itself. All her resources are 
immediately at his disposal, and the exquisite fabrics of her looms 
are flimg with careless grace here, or hung with rich splendor 

(52) 



Vines 53 

there, according to the need. Airy draperies and heavy there 
are — enough kinds to suit the demands of every place and occa- 
sion. Encourage her to spread them — that is all she needs. 

In common parlance, plant vines — that is appeahng to her, 
directly and frankly for aid. Plant them first of all, and plant 
them plentifully arotmd new buildings. And plant them as 
soon as the builders have gone, quite independent of whatever 
other work may be intended and quite independent of the 
garden design. 

Whether a place is large or small, formal or informal, matters 
not at all so far as this detail is concerned. The vital thing is 
that every building must have vines upon it to impart that sense 
of oneness with the earth which is the first essential. Until 
this is acquired the eye will not rest upon it with any sense of 
real satisfaction. 

But vines themselves are formal and informal in their habits, 
quite the same as other plants; and they must therefore be 
chosen to suit the place which they are to occupy and the mate- 
rial which is to be their support. Then, too, they are quite differ- 
ent one from another, in other ways; and the qualities which 
distinguish them in these other ways must guide very considera- 
bly in their planting. 

In the first place, though we speak generally of "vines" and 
though all vines are climbing plants, all climbing plants are not 
by any means vines ; and in the second place, all do not " climb ' ' 
tmassisted. Climbers are defined as weak-stemmed, tall-growing 
plants which are incapable of rising from the earth without 
support. Of this very general class the true vines lift them- 
selves ; the others are simply prostrate unless lifted. 

The means by which vines lift themselves are the determining 
factor as to their use, and these means are three in number. 



54 The Landscape Gardening Book 

Some twine bodily around their support, some catch it with 
tendrils or twining leaf stalks, and some cling to it with aerial 
rootlets, or with numerous tiny sucker-like disks provided for 
the purpose. 

The latter of course are the vines which furnish the dense, 
compact and beautiful wall coverings — the most formal growth 
that there is. The ivies ascend in this way, also the " clarion- 
flowered ' ' trumpet creeper. Morning-glories and Wistaria are 
twiners — note that they are more airy and careless in their 
growth — while the grape, in both its ornamental and its purely 
utilitarian forms, is an example of those still more careless 
growers which draw themselves to their support with coiling 

tendrils. 

The so-called climbing roses do not climb at all, but must be 
helped up and tied to their support; the matrimony vine, so 
often found in old gardens, is at a similar disadvantage, but this 
is usually planted where it may fall over a wall and in such a 
position needs only to be let alone. A variety of the familiar 
Forsythia, which has slender, pendulous branches, is practically 
as much of a climber as either of these, though it is all too sel- 
dom used as such. This is suited to a similar location against or 
above a wall. And there are numerous hardy plants listed as 
prostrate shrubs which send out long runners quite the equal 
of many reputed climbers. 

Of course only the climbers that belong to that class which 
actually holds fast to a surface by disks or rootlets, are entirely 
independent of a treUis or support of some sort; but this very 
quality of close surface chnging, on the other hand, makes its 
possessors unsuitable for use in many places. The grip of the 
tiny disks or rootlets carries the plant over and around an object 
until it is practically lost to view — and that is going a little too 



Vines 55 

far. A shapely white column, for instance, is lovely when 
ornamented by a green tracery that shows against it — but 
clumsy when obscured by a thick, verdant blanket that destroys 
its outline. For^ after all, though Nature is to be placated as far 
as possible, we cannot allow her to obliterate our abodes. 

Generally speaking, all porch vines should be provided with 
a trellis to climb on — and right here let me say that the orna- 
mental possibilities of various forms of trellis are rarely taken 
advantage of as I should like to see them, and as they very 
easily might be. There is permanent beauty in a well designed 
and well constructed permanent support, that frankly takes its 
place and makes no attempt to hide when the plant which it 
supports does not conceal it. It is a feature that deserves 
more consideration than it usually receives. 

Strings and chicken wire are not to be despised in their place, 
but the dignity of heavy-growing and profuse-blooming hardy 
climbers requires something worthier than these to support it — 
and this something should always be built. The architecture of 
a building will usually suggest the form and the design to be 
adopted, and some architects, indeed, include such suggestions 
in their elevation drawings for a house. 

Vines over a porch, however, whether supported on a trellis 
or climbing directly on the uprights which sustain the roof, 
should always follow the lines of construction and should never 
cross the open spaces between columns or uprights; nor should 
they be allowed to fill these by hanging over them from 
above. 

Primarily a vine is a drapery and should be treated as such. 
Where it is wanted for shade it should be trained out over a 
horizontal, awning-like framework or extension to a porch roof, 
rather than in a dense, vertical wall that closes the porch in from 



56 The Landscape Gardening Book 

light and air and view. Vines clothing walls should likewise 
be trimmed sharply away around casements and other openings. 
Indeed the effect is better if they are not allowed to cover an 
entire wall surface but are restrained at suitable points, so that 
the wall itself is visible for perhaps a third of its area. The con- 
trast between wall and foliage is usually more pleasing than the 
unbroken expanse of green — and cornice lines, comers, and angles 
here and there should always be left uncovered, to reveal immis- 
takably the definite form and strong sharp outline of the 
building. 

The use of flowering climbers against a house is never a source 
of any particular pleasure to the dwellers therein, for the blossoms 
are borne where they cannot be seen excepting from without. 
It is well to bear this in mind in selecting and planting; not that 
it is a reason for not planting flowering climbers, but rather that 
it is a reason for planting two of them — one against the house, 
if you will, and one against a trellis or an arbor or outbuilding, 
where it can be seen from the house. 

It is a good rule to keep to the green and leafy vines for the 
dwelling, however, because of their freedom from insects and the 
absence of litter in the shape of falling petals and flowers. 
Roses require spraying invariably, and other flower-bearing 
climbers are likely to. It is a very great nuisance to accompHsh 
this where they are trained against a surface which may be 
stained by the spray. 

Climbers are the one means whereby Nature's green may creep 
up and cover foundation walls where they rise from the ground — 
and that is the particular place where they need covering. The 
work of garden construction on any place is well begun when 
plants to furnish this cover are once established. The planting 
of shrubs later, at points along a foundation, is a matter to be 



Vines 57 

decided by the plan of the place as a whole — and must wait for 
such plan to be matured. But vines — again let me urge it — 
need wait for nothing. They may be planted at any time, as 
soon as the outside of a building is done. 

As a very first step, then, it is safe to say that Boston ivy or 
one of its varieties, may always take its place on a building's 
sunny side, while English ivy may be used where no sun will 
reach, if one wishes. The English ivy is more formal in growth 
of the two and is therefore especially suited to buildings of a very 
formal nature or style. Its hardiness in this climate, however, 
depends on its being protected from the warmth of the sun during 
cold weather — the sun kills it, not the cold — and this of course 
renders its general use on all sides of a structure out of the 
question. 

On buildings other than dwellings several vines may some- 
times be mingled with good effect, if the right kinds are chosen. 
With those which, like the honeysuckle, are inclined to be bare 
of foliage near the ground this combination planting is indeed 
quite essential to a pleasing result. Clematis also needs the 
leafiness of some companion to make up for its own lack of foliage, 
especially low on the stems. 

Combinations to insure all-summer bloom are easily worked 
out. Lovely and striking hedges may be made up of a tangle 
of two or three climbers like honeysuckle and Wistaria, sup- 
ported by and mingling with the common wild rose of the 
fields and roadside (Rosa lucida), or the even lovelier Michigan 
rose {Rosa setigera). These form a practically impenetrable 
barrier, and will grow almost for the planting. They require 
more ground, to be sure, than an ordinary fence, but they are a 
garden in themselves, and the only care they need is the cutting 
away of enough of all three annually to prevent them from 



58 The Landscape Gardening Book 

choking each other. The honeysuckle will require the severest 
pruning usually, being a rampant grower. 

Finally, it is worthy of note that, while vines are indispensable 
to the great place, regardless of how much other planting it may 
boast, they are also the one thing which the tiniest scrap of land 
will support. They are the material par excellence which will 
furnish the greatest possible results in the least possible space. 
Roothold is practically all the ground that they require, conse- 
quently the most restricted area may accommodate one or two. 
No wall or fence, even in the heart of the largest city, need 
ever be bare of some sort of restful green. They are the one thing 
adapted to every place, with positively no restrictions. 

Lists of Plants 

Vines for Use on Buildings 

surface clinging 

1—Ampelopsis tricuspidata (or A. Veitchii): Boston ivy; any 

soil; climbs to any height; will grow practically anywhere, 

though it likes some sun. 

2—Euonymous radicans: Japanese evergreen creeping euonym- 
ous; slow-growing; fine leaf, glossy and strong; very beau- 
tiful for masonry. 

3—Hedera Helix: English ivy; high-climbing; any soil, though 
it prefers a rich and moist one, always in shade; the north 
side of a building usually suits this best; evergreen, with 
thickened leathery leaves. 

TWINING 

I— Wistaria Chinensis: Chinese Wistaria; climbs to any height; 
prefers a deep rich soil but will make the best of that that 







,.-^J^j 


'' '-'^Ju? 


■ ■' lj,rf^ii5 




':7a 






^IS 




Fresh green Boston ivy, fragrant Hall's honeysuckle, large-flowered clematis and 
the exquisitely lovely'Wistaria are perhaps the four best house vines 




The transition from the formality of the garden to the salt meadow 

beyond is beautifully accomplished by means of reedy grasses, all lines, 

even the screen at the right, being horizontal, low and spreading 




Here is a masterful harmony between terrace wall, shore and sky line, 
the whole embodying the perfection of dignity and repose 



Vines 59 

is dry and sandy; flowers light violet-blue, in long, loose 
clusters; blossoms in May and again, less freely, in Septem- 
ber; stem twines and grows woody with age; clings by 
twining tendrils also ; always buy pot-grown plants as others 
do not transplant readily. 

2 — Clematis paniculata: Japanese virgin's bower; climbing to 
twenty or thirty feet ; rich, light loam — add lime to the soil 
every other year ; sheets of fragrant white starlike flowers ; 
blossoms in August and September; seeds are also very 
ornamental ; climbs by twining leaf stalks. 

3 — Akehia quinata: Japanese Akebi; tall-climbing; well drained 
soil, in full sun; clusters of bluish-brown flowers, spicily 
fragrant ; blossoms from early spring on through May ; the 
fruit, a long purple berry, is eaten in Japan, but it is 
rarely produced in this country; plant with the clematis — 
Number 2 — to clothe the latter 's bare lower branches. 

VINES FOR COLUMNS 

All vines must be trained and held around columns; heavy 
wire supports are usually best, being least conspicuous; a wood 
support may carry them up a short distance from the ground 
and they may then be carried over and around the column and 
secured in place. 

I — Vitts vulpina: riverbank or frost grape; tall-climbing; any 
soil; flowers very fragrant — with the garden grape; fruits 
small, black-purple, sour and not pleasant to eat ; lifting by 
tendrils, this must have something for the tendrils to 
grasp, provided for it. 
2 — Vitis Lahrusca: fox grape; strong, tall-climbing; any soil; 
leaves furred densely underneath with reddish wool, 
making them particularly rich in color under sunlight; 



6o The Landscape Gardening Book 

fruits large and very like the common grape in looks but 
falling when ripe ; musky and sweet ; this lifts by tendrils and 
must be provided with tendril supports. 

3 — Clematis lanuginosa, Henryi: large-flowering clematis; 
climbing to fifteen feet; deep loamy soil in full sun; cream 
white flowers, four inches across; blossoms in August and 
September ; lifts by coiling leaf stalks ; give strong and rigid 
support from the ground some distance up, so that the 
plants will not whip in the wind ; an iron rod or a light wood 
trellis is the best thing. 

4 — Tecoma radicans (or Bignonia r.): trumpet creeper; strong 
^igh climber; any soil; scarlet trumpet-shaped flowers; 
blossoms in July and through August ; lifts by aerial rootlets 
which cling to surfaces as persistently as the disks of disk- 
climbers. 

5 — Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Engelmanni: variety of Virginia 
creeper ; high-climbing ; any soil ; colors brilliantly in autumn ; 
varies in habit so that it may require tying up or it may lift 
by disks. 

6 — Lonicera Periclymenum, Belgica: Dutch honeysuckle; climb- 
ing to twelve or fifteen feet; any soil; flowers red outside; 
blossoms all summer; climbs by twining. 

LOW SHRUBS SUITABLE FOR BASE OF BUILDINGS 

1-^Berberis Thunbergii: Japanese barberry; two to four feet 
high; any soil and in sun or shade; small pendant yellow 
flowers in April or May; bright scarlet berries persisting 
all winter ; fine foliage, very brilliant in autumn color. 

2 — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: pendulous golden bells; eight 
feet high; any soil; yellow flowers like bells the length of 
the branches before the leaves appear in spring ; the branches 



Vines 6i 

arch and tips fall to the ground so that the bush is seldom 
actually as tall as its height in feet would indicate. 
3 — Symphoricarpos racemosus: snowberry; three to six feet 
high; any soil, sun or shade; flowers small, red; blossoms 
in July; quantities of fat white berries, crowded and irregu- 
lar in size, follow, persisting until winter storms destroy 
them. 

4 — Pieris Mariana (or Andromeda Mariana): lily-of -the- valley 
shrub, or stagger bush; four feet high; moist well drained 
soil, free from lime, part shade; pinkish- white flowers in 
wands three inches long and over, fragrant; blossoms in 
April to June. 



CHAPTER VI 

Vistas Good and Bad 

A BARRIER of living verdure makes an unpleasant pros- 
pect practically non-existent, whether space be measured 
in acres or in feet. Therefore it does not seem an exag- 
geration to say that the possibilities which lie between what 
are termed "planting out" and "planting in" are the greatest 
boon of the garden builder, wherever he may be working. 
Nothing need be endured, for even the tiniest of snug Httle 
places has room for a screen of one sort or another. And the 
tinier the place the greater is the likelihood of its needing a 
screen somewhere. 

Distance is the primary consideration in planning a screen — 
not the distance away of the object to be screened, however, 
but the distance between it and the screen. What this distance 
shall be is determined by the relative size of the object and the 
place from which it is desired to hide it. Therefore, this de- 
mands attention first. 

Let us suppose that the small building at the right in the 
diagram is to be cut off from the window of the house only. 
Then, in order to be made up of the least number of shrubs 
possible, the screening group must be placed close up to the 
window. But if the same building is to be "planted out" 
from the entire porch it will be necessary to set the shrubs of 

(62) 



Vistas 



63 



the screen as close up to the building as they may go, in order 
to use the least possible number — therefore at the greatest 
distance from the porch. 

So we find the rule to be that when the object is larger than 
the space from which it is to be screened, economy in numbers 




The relative sizes of object to be screened and view point determine 

the location and size of the screen 



is served by shortening the distance between the screen and the 
observation point. But when the object is smaller than the 
region from which it is to be excluded, the reverse is true. 
Fewer shrubs will be required if the distance between screen 
and observation point is extended to the fullest degree. 

The material to be planted cannot be decided upon until the 
position of the screen is thus determined, as its selection depends 
greatly, of course, upon the amotmt of space allowed. Naturally 
evergreens are the things ideally adapted to screening, for they 
fulfil the purpose winter and summer. If it is not possible to 
plant a screen entirely of them it is well to make them form a 
large portion of every such group. 

Lack of space need not exclude them. A wall of hemlock will 
take up as little room as a wall of stone or brick, and it may be 



64 The Landscape Gardening Book 

brought to any desired height and will stand shearing into any 
form. Its impenetrable soft, thick, beautiful green is lovely 
enough to need no excuse for being. 

When a screen has to be situated near at hand this is impor- 
tant. Indeed under such circumstances it is well to present it, 
itself, as a feature, frankly drawing and centering attention 
upon it, instead of attempting to make it imobtrusive and un- 
noticed. Such an attempt is bound to fail when the distance 
is short ; and the irritating suspicion of what may be beyond 
which constantly recurs when the vision is intercepted by a 
group that, of itself, is not interesting enough to distract at- 
tention, is something to be avoided if possible. It is a subterfuge 
to feature the screen, but a perfectly excusable one. 

Countless ways to make such a barrier itself of special inter- 
est will suggest themselves, according to a situation. With a 
hemlock hedge, if the hedge itself is not enough, a semi-formal 
treatment is excellent. A pedestaled faun or a row of them, 
placed before it at intervals of ten to fifteen feet and gleaming 
white against the green, will never grow wearisome. Or if 
these are too ambitious for the rest of the place, substitute a 
svm-dial, an urn, or a garden seat, with a flanking pair of small 
pyramidal boxwood or juniper trees, or a pair of flowering 
shrubs. 

Ramblers or pillar roses, gathered up and tied to a straight 
young sapling, take up very little room; and grown this way 
they are marvelously effective, lending themselves especially 
to cramped quarters. Simpler than anything else would be a 
row of these to form columns of bloom against the hemlock's 
dark green. A selection of several varieties will give a long 
period of bloom. 

Privet grows much faster than hemlock and costs a great deal 



i 



Vistas 65 

less — and it holds its bronzy leaves persistently even against 
wind and snow and frost. So, for prompt results, and cheaper, 
it is very satisfactory indeed. Even without a leaf upon its 
branches an old privet hedge that has been properly trimmed, is 
so twiggy that it very effectually hides the thing beyond it. 

Where there is room enough a thick planting of arbor vitas, 
hemlock, spruce, or cedar, left untrimmed to form a natural back- 
ground for a border of flowering shrubs, cannot be improved 
upon. Shrubs having ornamental fruits or highly colored winter 
bark may be chosen, and will add to the winter beauty of the 
group. For screens to be placed at a distance, on a place of 
considerable size, I should always recommend conifers as the 
dominant note, with deciduous trees beyond in as natural and 
forest-like relation as possible. 

Whatever the thing may be that mars the outlook from within 
a dwelling or offends the eye at any point of the surrounding 
grounds, let me urge that something be done to annihilate it 
promptly. There is no necessity for contemplating a neighbor's 
chicken yard from the library windows, nor for tolerating a 
view of his tool house or wood pile from the front gate. A 
little contriving will find a way to hide them. Similarly, even 
remote objects may be blotted from the landscape, if not in 
one way then in another — for what a bush will not hide a pine 
tree will. 

The reverse process, whereby the outer world is included in 
one's private grotmds or garden — the "planting in" process — is 
obviously not altogether that, Hterally. Rather is it a great 
deal more than that, for the term applies of course to any 
arrangement which brings an object or a view — usually the latter 
— into the general scheme of a place, even though it is miles 
distant from it. 



6(> The Landscape Gardening Book 

Leaving the intervening space unobstructed and quite free 
from any planting would seem to be the simplest way of accom- 
plishing this, but curiously enough it often fails utterly. For 
a view must be more than there to give us the fullest apprecia- 
tion of its beauty; it must be there-for-our-benefit. And some- 
thing must be done to make us feel this, to assure us unmis- 
takably that this is so, as we look out upon it. It must be 
incorporated into the place from which we behold it. 

The one thing which surely accomplishes this very much to be 
desired result — the thing that is the key to success in this phase 
of tree and shrub planting — is a thing that is generally over- 
looked and tmsuspected. Yet it is so important that it cannot 
be over-estimated nor over-emphasized. Briefly it is this: the 
dominant line in a view must dominate the planting which 
carries the eye to that view. 

In other words, the lines along which the planting carries the 
vision must be made harmonious with the object which ulti- 
mately meets that vision. They must be what someone has 
very aptly termed " eye sweet. " At first glance this may seem 
impossible, in some instances anyway. For example, how is the 
vision to be carried straight ahead by means of lines that conform 
to a sea horizon ? Certainly the dominating line of that is hori- 
zontal ; and a horizontal line is at a direct right angle with the line 
of vision as one looks out to sea. 

True enough; nevertheless the vision travels straight to the 
seascape over broad lines of planting which sweep to left or right 
or both, in lines that are generally horizontal, much more swiftly 
and directly than it does where an effort is made actually to 
carry it forward with lines of planting that run against the hori- 
zon. The rule holds because, as a matter of fact, the planting 
cannot force the vision through tunnels or along ruts or ridges 



Vistas 67 

of green. It can only persuade it and lead it on. It is a matter 
of suggestion, not coercion. And successful suggestion always 
presents but the one idea — it offers not the subtlest hint of a 
resistant force or, in this instance, an antagonistic direction. 
The idea in the case just cited is all breadth and expansion, and 
nothing should occur to distract the mind, through the eye, from 
this. 

A view that follows a valley requires "planting in" on pre- 
cisely the same principle — that is on the lines of the valley, 
whether they be oblique to the view point, or horizontal, or 
straight away. Similarly a view of field or mountain or stream 
must determine, by the line which dominates it, just how the 
vision shall be helped along the way. 

I have yet to find an instance where the rule does not apply. 
Consciously or unconsciously the artist makes use of it in a 
landscape, and views that give a sense of complete satisfaction 
will be found to measure up to the standard which it furnishes. 
It not only legitimately includes a prospect in your own domain, 
but it emphasizes its presence there; and by this emphasis 
enhances its value to the whole. 

Happily, circumstances require the planting of barren tracts 
to create vistas, rather more often than they require the cutting 
out of Nature's growth to clear them — happily at least for some 
of us. I doubt if many who love outdoors and all that lives 
outdoors, can see a tree felled without a shivering pang of regret. 
I am perfectly free to confess that I cannot. Yet it is quite as 
important to eliminate vegetation under some conditions as it is 
to preserve it under others. But let there be no uncertainty 
about when to do one and when the other — for the hour in which 
a tree may be laid low is tragically brief, compared to the haH 
a hundred years or so it may have been growing. 



68 



The Landscape Gardening Book 



When circumstances force a choice between trees and a view, 
and it is the only view, choose it every time — unless there is 
chance for an interloper to come between and steal it from you 
at some future day. Settle this beyond all doubt. Never open 
a vista that may end in an eye-sore some time, through a neigh- 
bor's freak, or folly, or indifference. 

But do make as much of the world your own as you can, right 
down to the rim. There is something none can afford to be 
without in living with a horizon, either of land or sea, and trees 
that hide it are cheating you. They are robbing you of soul 
expansion that is rightfully yours. Condemn them and take 
them out without compunction. Their room is better than their 
company under such circumstances — though it may hurt to see 
them go. 







4#i^^>^ 



Planting of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs forming a screen group 
two hundred feet long. 



Lists op Plants 



EVERGREEN AND DECIDUOUS TREES IN THE SCREEN GROUP 

I — Pinus Strohus: white pine; one hundred feet high or more; 
adapts itself to any soil; the most beautiful of all native 
evergreen trees; care must be used in setting this out and 



^fi!j:ii^ 




'^•. 










A very high wall and its immediate foreground should be made so inter- 
esting by planting that wonder about what lies beyond will never arise 




White marble against evergreens is always enchanting, and fauns are 
particularly appropriate garden subjects 




Nothing is more restful than the long even line of an evergreen hedge, 
and it furnishes a delightful note of contrast for flowers 




Winter and summer a screen of living green is actually a screen, as 
well as a pleasant feature of the grounds 



Vistas 



69 




Details of shrubbery groups from the large screen group, laid off in 
three-foot squares; this gives the exact location of every plant. 



yo The Landscape Gardening Book 

yoiuig plants only should be transplanted ; the long tap root 

makes this precaution necessary. 
2 — Tsuga Canadensis: hemlock spruce or common hemlock; 

seventy-five feet high and over; any soil, not too dry; ranks 

next to the white pine and is quite as beautiful in its way; 

easily transplanted. 
3 — Betula papyrifera: canoe or paper birch; sixty to eighty feet 

high; fairly rich soil, but may be very generally planted; 

very white bark, peeling readily from the tree; used by the 

Indians for their canoes. 

4 — Populus nigra, Italica: Lombardy poplar; sixty to eighty feet 
or more high ; any soil ; pyramidal trees which are familiar to 
everyone. 

5 — Sorbus aucuparia: European mountain ash or rowan tree; 
forty feet high, sometimes more ; any soil ; white flowers in 
flat clusters ; blossoms in May and June ; brilliant red berries 
follow, which remain all winter; the rowan tree of old folk- 
lore. 

SHRUBS IN THE SCREEN GROUPS 

I — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: weeping or pendulous golden 
bells ; eight feet high ; any soil ; yellow flowers the length of 
the branches in early spring ; branches arch and dip to the 
ground. 

2 — Ligustrum Ibota, Regelianum: variety of privet; six feet high; 
any soil ; low and spreading growth ; small lilac-like clusters 
of white flowers; blossoms in June and July; black berries 
follow. 

3 — Hibiscus Syriacus, pcsoniflora: rose of Sharon; twelve feet 
high; any soil; solitary white flowers with red centers, 
abimdant; blossoms in August and September. 



Vistas 71 

4 — Forsythia intermedia: erect golden bells; twelve feet high; 
any soil; yellow blossoms the same as Forsythia suspensa, F.; 
fine clear foliage. 

5 — Cornus candidissima: panicled cornel; fifteen feet high; an 
upright-growing, dense shrub with smooth gray branches; 
tiny white blossoms in closely packed clusters, numerous 
and attractive; blossoms in May and June; ornamental 
white berries follow, 

6 — Cornus alba, Sihirica: Siberian dogwood; ten feet high; 
any soil and will do well in sim or shade; erect-growing, 
with bright red branches and twigs ; small white flowers in 
fiat clusters; blossoms in May and June; has bltiish- white 
berries. 

7 — Viburnum prunifolium: black haw or stag bush; fifteen feet 
high; any soil; tiny white fiowers in dense clusters four 
inches broad ; blossoms in April or May. 

8 — Spircea VanHouttei: VanHoutte's spirea; six to eight feet 
high; any soil; slender arching branches; dense round 
clusters of small white flowers which weigh the branches 
down and cover the bush ; blossoms in May and June. 

9 — Lonicera Morrowi: bush honeysuckle; eight feet high; any 
ordinary soil; fiowers white changing to yellow; blossoms 
in May and June ; is covered with very ornamental translu- 
cent ruby-colored fruits which persist a long time. 

10 — Diervilla, Eva Rathke: hybrid Weigela; six to eight feet high; 
a rather moist soil and partial shade; abundant deep red 
fiowers ; blossoms in June and on during the summer. 

This two-hundred-foot group may be broken up into smaller 
groups in almost any way that seems desirable. Trees alone 



72 The Landscape Gardening Book 

of any cluster may be used, or shrubs alone where only a low 
screen is necessary. The details of each of the four shrubbery 
groups show the location of each shrub. These are laid off in 
three-foot squares, for convenience in calculating the distances 
and also to faciHtate getting the plan onto the ground. 



CHAPTER VII 

Boundaries 

A BOUNDARY is "a visible mark indicating the limit"— 
those are the exact words — ^hence there can be no greater 
anomaly than an "invisible boimdary. " And happily 
we are outgrowing the affectation that led lis, a decade or so ago, 
to such violation of good sense as the total elimination of hedges, 
fences and all other "visible" evidences of limits. 

It must have been affectation pure and simple, for there is 
absolutely nothing in human experience or human instinct 
which prompts such action. Rather indeed, do these urge an 
opposite course. A little bit of the earth with a fence around it 
is the honest demand of human nature, common to all but the 
anarchists. These want the fences down to be sure — or they say 
they do — ^but is it so others may walk in, or because they them- 
selves wish to walk out? 

The sacrifice of botmdaries in suburban commimities has 
usually been made, I think, under a doubly mistaken idea. 
There is an impression, widely prevaiHng, that an effect of spa- 
ciousness is thus gained. And there is a feeling, widely cherished, 
that this particular effect is the great desideratum, to which all 
else should be willingly sacrificed. 

As a matter of fact spaciousness is of small consequence, 
alone and by itself. When it results naturally from conditions 

(73) 



74 The Landscape Gardening Book 

which have been carefully taken advantage of in the layout of a 
garden, when the greatest attention to economy of space has 
produced it or emphasized it, well and good. In other words, 
when it actually exists, where there actually is "space" to take 
advantage of and to emphasize, then and only then is it suitably 
made the motif of a place. Efforts to produce it under other 
circumstances are misguided; none more so than the unhappy 
obliteration of boundaries to that end. 

The position of a dwelling, and its relation to other dwellings 
or other buildings about it, show plainly where the boundaries of 
the land with which it is furnished, lie. Hence the observer is 
never deceived by lack of definite markings. And all the lovely 
seclusion and privacy which good taste demands for the home, 
and which may be the attributes of the tiniest scrap of a door- 
yard if it is well planned, are after all sacrificed in vain. Only 
barrenness, or garish publicity, or vulgar ostentation result — 
never the delusion of space fondly and commonly hoped for. 

Boimdaries should therefore be marked — always. By this I 
do not mean simply defined as property limits, but marked 
defensively — aggressively if you will — as a beginning to the 
gradual process of home building which is to go on within them. 
They separate the home from the outside world and suggest its 
aspect of refuge and snug retreat, of safe and pleasant harbor. 
And the smaller the place and more thickly settled the neighbor- 
hood, the more imperative the need for this defensive setting 
apart ; the greater the gain from this resolute planting out of the 
big world and planting in of the little, individual one. 

Suburban plots are usually small and cramped, to be sure — 
obviously too small for a marginal planting of trees and shrubs; 
but no matter how tiny the place may be there is some suitable 
enclosure for it. It is simply a question of finding out what that 



Boundaries 75 

may be. There is seldom anything better for a small place than 
a hedge. Whether it shall be evergreen or deciduous depends 
upon the amoimt which is appropriated for its cost — have the 
former if possible. Whether it shall be formally clipped or left 
to grow in natural, informal abandon should depend upon the 
style of the house and the place generally. 

Nature offers the best possible model for boundary planting on 
a larger scale. Observe her treatment of any irresponsible water- 
course where some truant brooklet loiters and hurries alternately 
on its way ; or of an old roadside where she is left undisturbed, or 
along an old fence or roughly piled stone wall. 

Look first at the form — the general shape — of the mass of 
wild growth. Its irregular skyline will impress eyes that are 
opened to it at once, likewise its varying width upon the ground — 
here thick and dense, there sparse and thin. This irregularity 
and the varying form are more important than its color or than 
the variety of plants composing it, for the picturesque charm 
which distinguishes it is almost entirely owing to these. 

Then note that the direction of such a botmdary changes, 
even though it may follow a generally straight line, and that the 
comers are never sharply turned. And finally, record carefully 
the fact that Nature uses lavishly one or two kinds of plant and 
allows only a fugitive specimen here and there of others, half 
hidden among them. A soHtary umbel of flaming bunchberry 
which once caught my eye from beneath a mass of sumach and 
elder, along a meadow boundary near a patch of old woods, 
always recurs to me in this connection. 

Who but Nature — unless possibly a Japanese — ever composed 
with such cunning simplicity? Fifty bunchberries would have 
made more show — but how much less of an impression ! 

Even where space will permit a border planting varying from 



76 The Landscape Gardening Book 

ten to twenty feet in width, it is better to limit the varieties to 
three or four, rather than risk the jumbled and crowded effect 
which is so likely to result from the use of too many. Trees may 
accent a point here and there, but they are not absolutely neces- 
sary, for with four kinds of shrubs, properly selected, a suffi- 
ciently varied skyline is assured without them. 

A boundary which seems to be completely forgotten nowadays 
is the old plashed hedgerow — a style which came from England 
in the early days of the Colonies. For uncleared land it is sim- 
plicity itself, and it is by no means impracticable on smooth 
and treeless wastes, though on the latter it requires planting and 
consequently a little more time for results, of course. 

On uncleared land a row of saplings are simply left along the 
boundary line — saplings of whatever may constitute the growth 
cleared away. These are then bent down along the ground as 
close as may be and tied, each to its neighbor, to hold them in 
place. All the branches on either side of the line of the botmdary 
are taken off close at the boles, leaving only those on what is now 
the top and the imder side of the saplings, to grow. And these 
are "plashed" — that is they are woven, in and out and about 
their neighbors, until a network is well begun which each suc- 
ceeding year's growth will make more dense and impenetrable. 

Enough trimming back must be done each year of course, to 
keep the line even and straight. Climbing and prostrate grow- 
ing vines or shrubs, set here and there along the hedgerow, soon 
make themselves at home and help in the boundary building. 
And wild growths will spring up of themselves, in short order. 

Such a botmdary is not suitable for very close quarters, 
naturally, but for larger places, where natural lines may prevail 
to a great extent, it is much to be regretted that it is not more 
often used. A planting may very easily be made for it where 



I 



Boundaries 



77 



all natural growth has long since been eliminated, in which case 
young trees of the same species as the native growth should be 
chosen, if possible. Beech, oak, dogwood, alder, hornbeam — 
anything that is young enough to be soft and pliable, and that is 
indigenous, is suitable for this woodsy, umbrageous wall of old- 
world charm and permanence. Three or four kinds may be used, 
just as in the natural sapling growth. 

Within the outer boundaries of a place there are numerous 
lesser " hmits " to be marked. The service or kitchen yard needs 
its screen, the vegetable garden its protection, the chickens their 
restriction, and perhaps a rose or flower garden its shelter and 
seclusion. Each of these inner boundaries should be made the 
motif for some particularly individual treatment, thus combining 
utiHty and beauty. A high service yard lattice is the best 
possible place for those fruit trees which in English and European 
gardens are trained on walls. 

Arbors and trellises should always mark a boundary instead 
of being set aimlessly down anywhere, with no reason for being 
there. In fact if there is any one thing about garden design 
that I believe needs emphasizing more than another it is this: 
nothing should ever be built or planted without a reason; a 
reason, mind — not an excuse. 

Finally, never leave a fence or wall or other boundary im- 
planted. Whether the defense which you have adopted is a 
brick wall or chicken wire strung on gas pipe, be not satisfied 
with it and it alone. Give it clothing ; if there is only room for 
a hedge inside it or for vines to clamber through or over it, have 
the hedge or the vines. Always have some living green to frame 
the lawn and furnish the background for flowers, or whatever 
may be introduced. 

Not a single summer need go by with a fence or a wall barren, 



78 The Landscape Gardening Book 

for sweet peas or morning glories — get the Imperial Japanese 
variety — will cover it in no time, while the slower, hardy stuff is 
making growth. The evergreen honeysuckles are, of all fence- 
climbers, the most satisfactory, to me at least. This not only 
because they are so hardy, and practically evergreen, but because 
they blossom freely and fill the air with such delightful fragrance. 
Planted at ten-foot intervals and " layered ' ' for a couple of years 
— a long branch from each plant laid down along the fence to 
root, covered lightly at the joints with earth — they form a 
growth in a very short time so dense and compact that it is 
virtually a hedge. 

FLOWERING HEDGES — TRIMMED OR LEFT NATURAL 

I — Berheris Thunhergii: Thtmberg's Japanese barberry; four 
feet high; any soil and will endure shade; hardy everywhere; 
there is no better plant, in every way, for a hedge; dense 
and defensive, twiggy, thorny growth which becomes like 
a solid wall if sheared ; foliage fine and clean, autumn color 
brilliant; bright scarlet berries persistent all winter; at all 
seasons beautiful; set small plants eighteen inches apart if 
the hedge is to be sheared, twenty-four to thirty inches 
apart if it is to be left natural. 

2 — Berheris aquifolium: holly-leaved barberry; six feet high; 
any soil; an evergreen, beautiful in winter color; yellow 
flowers small and numerous along the branches; blossoms 
in May; set eighteen to thirty inches apart, as above. 

3 — 'CratcBgus Crus-galli: cockspur thorn; to twenty-five feet 
high ; any soil, though it usually chooses rather rich localities 
when growing wild; flowers very like the flowers of apple 
trees, white, in loose clusters; blossoms in May and June; 



1 




Absolute privacy and seclusion are secured by such a treatment as this ; 
for it, grounds that are on a higher level than the street are essential 




The same idea, executed in loose stone work, with a boxwood hedge and 
minus the ivy on the wall ; perfect seclusion without arrogance 




An entrance from a street that is higher than the property; here there 
is an evergreen planting outside the wall to aid in securing privacy 




On a large place a boundary of trees, shrubs and flowers framing a 
sweep of lawn, suggests Nature at her best 



Boundaries 79 

prune not later than August first; set plants twenty-four 
to thirty inches apart ; branches of this are armed with long 
and extremely sharp thorns. 

4 — Hibiscus Syriacus, carnea plena: variety of rose of Sharon; 
twelve feet high; any soil; many flesh-pink, solitary flowers 
all over the bush ; blossoms in August and September ; prune 
after flowering ; set the plants eighteen to twenty-four inches 
apart. 

Almost any flowering shrub may be used for a hedge that is to 
be allowed to grow in a natural way. The selection is largely a 
matter of taste and personal preference. The following are 
some of the best: Spircsa VanHouttei — VanHoutte's spirea; 
Rosa rugosa — Japanese rose; Syringa vulgaris — common lilac, 
white or purple; Rosa rubiginosa — sweetbriar rose; Hydrangea 
paniculata, grandiflora — great-panicled hydrangea. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Entrances and Gateways 

THE destruction of boundaries took away, among other 
things, every vestige of an excuse for one thing which had 
always been, on every place, an object of special considera- 
tion and painstaking thought. It took away gateways and 
definite entrance treatment. For naturally where no enclosure 
is, there can be no opening or gateway admitting to an enclosure. 
With the "within" and the "without" all the same, and boun- 
dary hnes obliterated, gateways are tinnecessary — though we 
do see them sometimes, standing beside a highway that is in no 
way divided from the grounds to which they offer entrance and 
pretend to give access. 

And what an air of mute dejection they wear as if they 
felt real mortification at the ridiculous position in which they 
find themselves. For surely nothing is less of a necessity than 
the fenceless gate across an entrance, arotmd the supports of 
which one may skip as easily as through it. 

But if we restore botmdaries, gateways will of course come 
with them. And we shall then have once more that feature 
which goes a long way in determining the character of a place ; 
for the entrance to grounds, whether they are great or small, is 
an important focussing point. Here generalisation ends and 
individualization begins; here the dweller within the portals 

(80) 




The lych gate is hospitably inviting; in a hedtje or a stone wall it is particu- 
larly effective; the frontispiece shows the latter 




iiaiil.._d by the poplars and the well placed shrubs, these gate-posts, carrying the 
particularly graceful gate, focus the attention with the pleasantest of impressions 



Entrances 8 i 

steps away from the mass and becomes a personality. Hence 
right at the gateway appear the signs and tokens of that per- 
sonaHty. And hence the gateway itself is the place at which 
to begin with careful consideration. 

Like every other part of a place the gateways or entrances 
from the highway must first of all be appropriate. Stately and 
massive pillars, supporting elaborate gates, are only suitable 
for large and stately places, which are enclosed by a wall of 
corresponding scale and material. But there are gateway 
treatments for every place, however small, that are as suitable 
for it as heavy masonry is for the large place, though these are 
rarely seen and rarely even considered, at the present time. 

Quaint charm and a certain exclusiveness are always the 
attributes of a gateway of any size whatsoever, that is arched 
over with vines or a trellis, or covered in some manner. I 
do not know why it is that this covering adds so much, but it 
does. It contributes a something that makes for decorum and 
dignity, that instantly commands respect for a place and for 
its occupants. 

Perhaps it is because entrance through such an opening is 
more like going through a door and into a room or building, than 
through an ordinary gateway. It is suggestive too of the lovely 
old walled gardens and dooryards of the South, into the leafy 
coolness and sweetness of which, through a little door in the high 
brick or stone wall, one steps with a gasp of surprise, direct from 
the hot city pavement. 

Such gardens are the vestibules of the houses which they lie 
beside, for the entrance to the house is only reached after admit- 
tance to the garden has been gained — and the garden gate fastens 
with a latch and bolt. The wall of the garden is a continuation 
of the front wall of the house, in which possibly, on the lower 



82 The Landscape Gardening Book 

floor at least, there are no windows. The rooms overlook their 
own garden only, betraying a fine indifference to the vulgar 
things of the street. Indeed they go further; they carefully 
exclude them. And admittance to the grounds is obtained only 
upon the summons of the bell at the garden gate — or door. 
Truly these are gardens to live in, gardens with an air about 
them, even though they are small, and cramped by city 
conditions. 

A wooden arch or a lattice-trellis whereon vines may climb is 
about the simplest cover for a gateway. And winter and sum- 
mer it is attractive, if kept trim and neat ; but this is a gate 
treatment which seems to conform only to a certain type of 
house, and it always has an out-of -place look unless such a house 
lies beyond it. It is a part of the white paint and green shutters 
epoch, of the exact perfection of box borders and Colonial door- 
yards. It must be painted white, like the house, to look right ; 
and it belongs above the picket gate in a spotless, straight and 
precise picket fence. So this, though an easy way of securing a 
desired result, is not a very generally available one. For pure 
Colonial architecture is not common. 

Gates with hooded roofs suit admirably the informal and tm- 
conventional lines of houses of the half-timbered, bungalow and 
craftsman type, and have great, and as yet almost entirely un- 
developed, possibilities. Executed in the same wood as that 
used in the house construction, stained the same color, they may 
have either a shingled or a thatched roof. The latter seems 
actually appropriate only to rustic conditions however, and to 
the general surroundings where such construction may be in- 
dulged in. The gate itself in such a structure naturally will 
conform to the rest of the structure. 

For the entrance through a rough stone wall these hooded 



Entrances 83 

gates are charming; or through brick, concrete or any solid sub- 
stance. They are perfectly suitable and harmonious for use with a 
hedge boundary indeed, if the latter is trained high and is dense 
and wall-like in appearance. But they are inappropriate to 
any open means of enclosure, through which it is possible to look. 

Universally appropriate to every size and style of place are 
the arches of boughs and of green which are formed by pleaching 
shrubs, set at either side of the gateway. Pleaching is a process 
of tying together and interweaving the branches of separate 
plants so that they hold fast and mature and continue growi:h 
across the space between the plants. It is of all forms of arbor 
the most enchanting, when well done, with the proper kind of 
shrub for its medium ; but it has never been used in this country 
to any extent owing to adverse conditions which prevail during 
our extremes of winter. 

Pleached alleys as they were called, were the glory of many 
great English gardens, but even in England where they flourish 
famously and have no difficulties of ice one day and sui:Lny 
warmth the next to contend with, they seem not to be in as high 
favor now as they were long ago. There is at least one notable 
example of this work here in America, an arbor near Boston over 
one hundred feet long. 

For the long alleys or arbors a framework of iron-hoop arches, 
placed at regular intervals, is provided for a number of years, 
until the branches have grown woody and strong and are well 
gripped together and interlocked. But for pleaching above a 
gateway such a framework need not be left for any great length 
of time. The distance spanned is not great, and the plants, being 
more free of light and space, make their growth faster. There 
is not so much roof surface exposed to snow, either, in winter, 
therefore there is less weight to be supported. 



84 The Landscape Gardening Book 

A hedge of privet may be carried in a straight and unbroken 
line the length of a boundary, its gateway being an opening 
provided by pleaching an arch at the required point and swinging 
under it, from wooden posts, a wooden gate of suitable design. 
Nothing ever looks more lovely in this position than a simple 
gate, painted v/hite; and this will ordinarily suit any kind or 
style of house, when used in this way, in a hedge. 

The pleaching itself is done in early spring by binding several 
of the longer branches down first onto the framework, and tying 
them with rafha. Then they are woven or braided together and 
tied, carefully and not very tightly, else their tips will be choked. 
AIJ upstanding and outstanding shoots are cut off when the 
pleaching is thus well begim, and a second shearing may follow 
in August, if there has been much growth. Frequent shearing 
makes for density of growth in this form as in every other. 

Privet, beech, wych or slippery elm, willow and the tall grow- 
ing cornels (cornus) may be used for pleaching, besides the plants 
listed below. Of these the willow and privet will furnish the 
most rapid growth. 

The tough wood of hombean however is practically indestruc- 
tible, while the flower effect of the Judas tree or red-bud is 
exquisite. Consequently these two are given prominence such 
as they seem to merit. 



Lists of Plants 
for pleaching 

-Carpinus Caroliniana (or C. Americana): American horn- 
beam or blue beech; forty feet high sometimes, but very 
slow-growing; endures pruning particularly well. 




& 


-hite 

e as 

per 


^ 




Ti 


c; 




1 




A worthy barrier between the outside world and a home, in the best 

sense of the word; the construction of this fence is notably strong and 

permanent; the beauty of the design is striking 




Wl at delights may not lie within such a garden wall as this, which, once 
built, grows mellow and more beautiful with time 



Entrances 85 

2 — Cercis Canadensis: red bud or Judas tree; thirty feet high 
sometimes; any soil; rosy flowers very early, before the 
leaves; get small young plants, not over three years old, as 
this does not transplant well when older ; blooms when four 
or five years old. 

WOODY VINES FOR ARCHES 

I — Lonicera Japonica (or L. Halltana): evergreen honeysuckle; 

climbs fifteen feet ; any soil ; very fragrant flowers ; blossoms 

from June to August. 
2 — Vttts CoigneticB: crimson glory vine; very strong, growing 

to almost any height; large heavy leaves, unusual color; 

colors to brilliant scarlet in the autumn, whence its name. 

ROSES FOR ARCHES 

I — "Dorothy Perkins:" hybrid climbing rose; twelve to fifteen 
feet high; flowers small, pink, in large clusters; blossoms in 
July ; foliage of this is clean and vigorous. 

2 — Rosa Wichuraiana: hybrid, "Pink Roamer"; fifteen feet high; 
hardy and strong growing; flowers bright pink, single, two 
inches in diameter, fragrant ; blossoms in July. 

3 — Rosa Wichuraiana: memorial rose; fifteen to twenty feet; 
hardy and strong with splendid foliage — one of the sur- 
passingly good roses; flowers covering the plant, white, 
single, one and a half to two inches in diameter, faintly 
fragrant; blossoms in July and on at intervals during 
the summer; very ornamental red berries persist all winter. 



CHAPTER IX 
Deciduous Trees 

THERE are two distinct aspects tinder which the question of 
tree planting, and the shade and shadow resulting from 
tree planting, must be considered. One is shade in its 
relation to buildings, the other is shade and shadow in their 
relation to landscape composition — in other words one is a 
purely practical, the other an esthetic, aspect. The small 
place is limited usually to the former. The practical aspect 
being therefore of more general application, we will give it first 
attention. 

It is very difficult not to go to extremes in the use of trees. 
The tendency is invariably to plant either too many or not 
enough, according as the planter loves "cool shade" or abomi- 
nates "somber shadow;" and in this connection, as in many 
others, personal prejudice is very strong and does not take kindly 
to being reasoned with. There is a standard, however, set by 
hygienic demands as well as by those of beauty — the two are in 
absolute harmony, by the way — which will regulate this unruly 
tendency to extremes, if it is permitted to do so. 

In the triangle of air, light and shade that this subject of tree 
planting resolves itself into, there is one member which we cannot 
live without. We need all three of course, to live happily, and 
comfortably, and healthily; yet light and shade are not vital. 

(86) 




The burning heat which gHmmers over sunbaked lawn and walks robs a home of its 
rightful attributes of comfort ani restfulness during half the year 




Fine old trees are not to be had for the wishing, yet there are varieties of not too slow 
growth which will give a generous shade within a few years after planting 



Trees 87 

Life does not depart if these are withdrawn from us ; but it does 
immediately if air is withdrawn. We can live longer deprived 
of anything else than we can deprived of air — indeed we cannot 
live at all if it is taken away from us. 

This little abstract may seem to have nothing to do with tree 
planting, but it has. Anything that will emphasize the im- 
portance of an element which can be excluded from our houses 
so easily, by wrong placing of trees, has an important lesson for 
prospective planters of trees. Of course foliage will never be 
dense enough anywhere to smother anyone, but it can very 
easily be dense enough to interfere seriously with that free circu- 
lation of air which is so essential to comfort in hot weather, and 
to health at all times. That is the point. 

On the other hand, a dwelling situated in the open, with no 
trees near it, is subjected to such a glare of sun and heat during 
the summer as seriously to affect those living in it. Even with 
awnings or shutters it is impossible, when exposed to full sun, 
to secure that depth of shade needful to repose in scorching 
weather. Nor is a breeze sufficient compensation — man needs 
rest from heat and glare as much as he needs cooling ; something 
to soothe his disquieted nerves as well as something to lower his 
temperature. A certain measure of darkness is comforting as 
nothing else can be. 

Thus it is evident that air is not enough without shade. We 
must have both. But ventilation cannot be perfect where the 
sun's rays do not reach. Heat is necessary, in other words, to 
help us keep cool. So, though air is the prime essential and 
shade next, the ideal conditions provide all three. All three are 
what we must aim to secure, the first in fullest abundance, the 
second and third in needful proportions. 

I doubt if the real secret of the relation between shade and 



88 The Landscape Gardening Book 

a building — the thing which makes the planting around it a 
success or otherwise — presents itself very often to the gardener. 
Certainly I have never found any mention of it in any work on 
planting, though hints leading in its direction are given in one 
or two very ancient tomes on the subject. Some gardens, 
especially those of India and other tropical countries where the 
art has been greatly perfected, seem to show a development of 
the idea; but it may or may not be conscious. Yet this one 
thing is to my mind the most important thing in the whole 
matter of shade tree planting. 

Trees should be placed so that their shadows fall upon the 
ground around a building, rather than upon the building itself. 
No structure is ever one whit cooler for having the sun kept 
away from it on any side, if it shines directly and hot upon the 
earth immediately about it. It may look cooler from without, 
but that is all. Even a lawn reflects light and heat up and back, 
into windows and doors and porches; and awnings afford no 
relief from this reflection, for it rises under them. 

A house is itself complete shelter from the sun. Into its 
windows, however, the stm ought to shine. Every room should 
have light, and unobstructed outlook — which means of course 
that trees must not stand very near. But this unobstructed 
outlook from windows and doors and verandas should be cool 
and inviting, should rest upon shade instead of a dazzHng ex- 
panse that glimmers with heat. 

Shade around a house means cooler air around it, therefore 
cooler air coming in at its open windows ; whereas shade that is 
only upon it cannot affect the surrounding atmosphere in the 
least. Shade at a considerable distance from it is of course 
offset by the intervening simny area, whence come blistering 
little puffs of heat that are the last straw on a hot summer day. 



I 



Trees 



89 




The little diagram of tree arrangement around a dwelling is 
given as a study in shade only, and to illustrate the manner of 
finding out what results any given arrangement of trees will give. 
At noon, with the sun approximately a little south of overhead, 
the trees will cast their 
shortest and least shad- 
ow, and this will of course 
fall on their north side. 
The object is to place 
them where this shadow 
as it swings on towards 
the east and lengthens, in 
the hottest part of the 
day, is seen at its maxi- 
mum from the house. 

This has been effected 
with every tree as here 
shown save the two small ones in the upper left hand comer, and 
the single one opposite on the right. The latter is placed to cut 
off the hot sun of early morning, while the two former, which 
might very well be some tall, spire-like tree such as the Lombardy ?- 
poplar, will stretch their lengthening shadows around as the day 
wanes, until they reach along the grass to the house at sunset. 
The tree nearest the house is fifteen feet from it and, though the 
shade of several will fall on the building's foimdations and part 
of the lower story at some hour of the day, the building itself is 
actually in the open, and the sun has free access to every side. 

In passing it is worth while to remark that a house pla'ced thus 
at an angle to the points of the compass enjoys the greatest 
number of those advantages which arise from sun and weather. 
Every room has sunlight for a little while daily, winter and sum- 



Arrangement of trees showing their mid-day 
shadows, which should fall on the ground 
about the house rather than on tlie building 



90 The Landscape Gardening Book 

mer, and the prevailing south and west breezes will, either of 
them, strike two sides of the building. 

It is very easy and always very wise to work out shade out-of- 
doors on the ground, using rather long stakes. Where there is not 
much space this is particularly advantageous; the direction of 
the stake's shadow will of course be the direction of the tree's 
shadow. Very exact locating of a tree is sometimes necessary 
to get shade just where it is wanted. 

Always bear in mind that the promotion of individual growth 
is not the most desirable thing to foster in tree planting. Sym- 
metrical specimen trees are interesting, impressive and sometimes 
very beautiful as specimens, it is true, but the effect of many 
solitary, evenly branched individuals, even though irregularly 
placed, is never equal to masses planted so closely that their 
branches intermingle and crowd. Remember too, that though 
it may make no great difference when viewed from a distance, 
it always assures more charm in a plantation to set two trees of 
the same variety from six to eight feet apart than to use a single 
tree anywhere. Once in a great while circumstances may war- 
rant the planting of just one, but very, very rarely. 

The species to be used is always a matter for the exercise of 
very great restraint and caution, and one ought really to know 
something about trees before venturing to select. It is better 
to employ many of one or two kinds than one of many kinds; 
and although there must be a certain amount of diversity to 
prevent monotony, we should ever be mindful of the fact that 
Nature continually presents thickets, and groups, and patches, 
dominated by one variety. Sometimes there are a few of one 
or two others, but many times not. If it is a beech wood there 
may be a few chestnuts, a sweet-gum here and there, and now 
and then a tall, straight maple or an oak, but these are scattered. 



Trees 91 

The ranks of sleek, gray, satin-coated beeches rising on every 
side are in an overwhelming majority over all the others com- 
bined — a majority of from 75 to 90 per cent. 

This proportion is not possible always of course, nor necessary, 
but if three trees are to be planted, let two be of one kind and 
one of another. If ten, use five or six of one kind, three of another 
and one or two of still another, rather than three of one kind, 
two of three others, and a solitary specimen of a fifth species or 
variety. 

There is a system of selection which has been used in some of 
the best and greatest landscape parks in the world, that is worth 
considering by the owner of even a half acre, though he may not 
be able to apply it fully. This is the formation of groups com- 
posed entirely of different varieties of one family or species. 
Take for example the maples; there are in all between sixty and 
seventy species, out of which a dozen are found in North America 
— enough to make up a very respectable group from just native 
species, even though some must be omitted as not hardy north. 

The red maple is a beautiful tree in winter and summer, 
whether yoimg or old, and grows from eighty to one hundred and 
twenty feet high ; the silver maple attains the same height but is 
distinctly different in habit, being more spreading. It is swifter 
growing too, but its wood is soft and branches and even giant 
limbs are easily broken, therefore it has not the permanent value 
of the other varieties. The sugar maple, seventy-five to one 
hundred and twenty feet high, is probably the finest of the genus, 
when all its good points are considered. Beauty, permanence, 
shade and utility are some of these, but unhappily " it is the host 
of many fimgi;" and insects aid and abet their malicious work. 

The black maple is very like it, but differs in its habit and the 
shade of its green; the large-toothed maple is smaller and dif- 



92 The Landscape Gardening Book 

f erent from all the rest in many ways ; the ash-leaved maple or 
box elder, quick growing and from fifty to seventy feet high — 
this, by the way, does not look Hke a maple at all to untrained 
eyes — is still different; and then there are three small species 
which are scarcely more than shrubs — the mountain maple, 
growing to thirty feet, the striped maple which ranges from a 
shrub to forty feet, and the dwarf maple of the west which stops 
at twenty-five feet. These are sufficiently dissimilar in size, 
shape and color to furnish variety in abimdance when added to 
the group. 

The form of a tree is important architecturally when it is to 
be placed in intimate relation with a building which belongs to a 
distinct style or period. With the Gothic, for instance, trees of 
the Gothic type should be used — poplars and any of the spire- 
shaped evergreens are examples — for harmonious lines are more 
effective than those which oppose. This is of course a fine point 
and need not ordinarily be raised, for ordinarily our dwellings 
are not designed with such strict adherence to the purity of a 
style as to demand such care in their surroimdings. It some- 
times presents itself, however; usually after a wrong selection 
has been made. I mention it for the benefit of those to whose 
case it may apply. 

Shade and shadow in their relation to the living picture which 
all planting aims to create, are subject to the same laws of com- 
position that govern the painter's use of them on his canvas. A 
landscape is cheerful or gloomy, happy or sad, according as 
Hght or shade predominate in it. It is a difficult matter to say 
just what the proportion shall be, and even more difficult fo^; an 
untrained eye to determine just what it is, in any given landscape ; 
but approximately light and shade should balance, with the 
excess nmning a little to shade tmder most circumstances. 



Trees 



93 



Sharp emphasis of the contrast between light and shade brings 
a crisp hveHness into a composition that assures its distinction 
and interest, imder all conditions and in all seasons and weather. 
Every means by which such emphasis can be made ought always 
to be taken advantage of. A pool of water in the midst of dense 
shade, yet so placed as to catch the Hght and reflect it, is perhaps 
the most striking example of emphasized contrast, and well 
illustrates the point. 

In this connection it is well to remember that still water greatly 
intensifies any effect, reflecting as it does shade, or sunlight, or 
sky expanse. Especially is this true of shade and the gloom 
that results from it or accompanies it. Deeply shaded water 
becomes black to the eye, and correspondingly suggestive of 
dark unpleasantness. 

Trees vary greatly in their effect of shade, the variation being 
due usually to their leaf form. For be it noted that the amoimt 
of shade with which a tree impresses its beholder, is not the 
amount of shade which it casts, but the amount which it holds. 
Looking out upon a landscape, it is not the shadows under the 
trees which meet the eye — only a very small proportion of those 
lare seen at all — ^but the depth of shade which lies among the 
leafiness of the tree's head. This, therefore, is the shade which 
must be considered with trees, in their relation to a picture or 
composition. Elms, while casting a perfect shadow, do not give 
the impression of as dense shade as maples, because their leaves 
are differently shaped and smaller. The sky shows through an 
elm top, but rarely through a maple and almost never through 
a horse-chestnut, a catalpa or any other large-leafed and densely 
furnished species. 

In sharp contrast to these heavy trees is the white birch, so 
delicate in leaf and color that it is hard to associate it with 



94 The Landscape Gardening Book 

shade or shadow. Indeed it rather seems as if light had been 
captured and were held among its tender greens, instead of 
shade. This tree therek>re is particularly suitable for positions 
near still water. It is lovely in reflection, and never gloomy. 

The lines of a large border planting, or the forms enclosed by 
the lines, are very aptly likened to the land formation along a 
coast. There are promontories and peninsulas, capes and isth- 
muses, with now and then a deeply receding curve where some 
great bay or gulf sweeps in from the sea — the lawn being the 
"sea" — and here and there an island or a series of diminishing 
islands carried out from a bold headland. Plant detached trees 
always in this relation to the mass, either as one single island — 
a tree or an irregular group of trees ; or as a series of islands — 
an irregular group of trees, a lesser group, and then perhaps one 
lone specimen. In either case, however, be sure that they are 
carried out from a point or " headland" of the mass. 

Where the most complete imitation of Nature's planting is 
aimed at, set two or three young trees into the same hole, once 
or twice among a mass. This ineffectual attempt to crowd each 
other out is very common among seedlings, in the woods and 
out. The trick lends interest even to those plantings which are 
in no sense intended to be wild, and though the idea seems very 
radical at first, try it. It will prove itself well groimded. 

Best of all, however, for a small place, is a fairly close adherence 
to just one kind of tree — that is, to one variety of a given species. 
This means a result that is distinctive and full of character, and 
is more completely in line with the principle of mass planting 
than any other system. It carries the assurance of success with 
it, too, for if a particular variety thrives in the soil and con- 
ditions prevailing in any given spot, the use of that variety 
insures a stand of trees that are all robust and strong growers. 



Trees 95 

To illustrate this scheme of planting from the diagram, the 
two trees of smaller diameter than the others, in the upper left- 
hand — or western — comer, are Lombardy poplars. Assuming 
that the soil is a good average one we may select for the five trees 
next to these, leading to the front, red maple. This has already 
been mentioned at the head of the maple family. In addition 
to being a tall, upright growing tree which, at maturity, furnishes 
shade from high up, somewhat after the manner of an elm, it is 
a wonder of beauty in early spring when the clusters of bright 
red flowers open, long before the leaves. It is indeed spring's 
most advanced herald among the trees, and in autumn it is again 
a blaze of glory in the scarlet of its foliage. 

Next to the red maples, out at the boundary in front, a silver 
birch may stand alone. Coming back to the eastern comer of 
the house, plant a linden nearest, for its fragrance, with a. sixth 
red maple shouldering it and a seventh bringing up the rear in 
the northern comer. 

For special soils selections may be made from the lists given ; 
or, better still, a choice determined by letting it fall, wherever 
possible, on trees that have at some time flourished in the locality 
and that may consequently be depended upon to do well. 



Lists of Trees 
FOR poor soil 

-Betula populifolia: poplar-leaved birch; forty feet high; 
has the smooth ashy- white bark characteristic of so many 
birches; not a long-lived tree, yet valuable for a dry and 
deserted sterile groimd. 

-Prunus serotina: wild black cherry; one hundred feet high; 



96 The Landscape Gardening Book 

white flowers soon after the leaves in the spring ; small black 

fruits; this is a fine tree. 
3 — Rohinia psetcdacacia: black or yellow locust; eighty feet high; 

has delicate airy foliage; white flowers in pendant clusters, 

very fragrant and abundant ; blossoms in May and June. 
4 — Celtis occidentalis : hackberry or nettle tree; eighty feet high 

or more; its one aversion is swampy soil; endures shade, so 

may be planted under or with other trees or in a dense group ; 

in appearance this is something like an elm to a casual 

observer. 

FOR LOW AND WET SOIL 

I — Quercus hicolor (or Quercus platanoides) : swamp white oak; 
seventy feet high, sometimes more; a fine and sturdy tree 
with pale bark, shaggy as it ages; silvery-green foliage in 
svmimer turning to yellow in the autumn; this tree likes a 
fertile soil, in swamps or on borders of streams. 

2 — Betula nigra (or B. rubra): red or river birch; eighty feet 
high; bark reddish brown or gray, separating and rolling 
back so that the lighter, warm, rosy tones of the inner 
layers show; shaggy and picturesque; this will thrive even 
on swampy land that is under water for lengthy intervals, 
or on banks of streams or ponds. 

3 — Fraxinus nigra: black ash; fifty to eighty feet high; very 
slender trunk; bark dark gray, even, and closely furrowed; 
foliage very dark green ; grows on the banks of streams and 
lakes, and in deep swamps. 

4 — Larix Americana: American larch, tamarack or hackmatack; 
fifty to sixty feet high ; narrow and rather pyramidal when 
yoimg, but spreading somewhat, later; larch is a needle- 
leaved, cone-bearing tree that is not evergreen; inhabits 



Trees 97 

deep swamps and bogs and prefers northern exposure; 
grows rapidly; this must always be transplanted in very 
early spring only, before the growth has shown any signs 
of starting; always plant in groups of not less than four or 
five; the earliest of all trees to put forth leaves; does not 
cast a dense shade, as the needle-like leaves do not offer 
sufficient obstruction to the sun. 

FOR ROCKY LAND 

I — Quercus coccinea: scarlet oak; seventy to eighty feet high; 
leaves delicate, bright and glossy ; the autumn color of this 
tree is a particularly bright scarlet. 

2 — Quercus Prinus: chestnut or rock chestnut oak; sixty to 
seventy feet or more, with a large sturdy trunk excepting 
in very exposed high and dry places, where it may not 
reach more than thirty feet; leaves shaped like chestnut 
leaves. 

3 — Prunus Pennsylvania: bird, pin, or wild red cherry; thirty 
to forty feet high unless growing under most adverse condi- 
tions, when it may be less; has reddish-brown, satiny bark; 
white flowers ; blossoms as the leaves come ; bright in effect, 
with foliage full of light. 

4 — Betula lutea: yellow or gray birch; sixty to ninety feet high 
in northern sections, less than this in the south ; bark satiny 
and giving the impression of a tone of silvery-gray overlaying 
a warm yellow ; the bark and branches are faintly aromatic ; 
the tree is one of the largest deciduous-leaved trees in eastern 
North America, as it grows in the wild state. 



CHAPTER X 

Evergreen Trees 

IEGEND has it that the pinon was the first tree to rise from 
_j the bare, brown bosom of the earth. Certain it is that 
something deep and elemental stirs the heart when the 
voices of all this great whispering tribe breathe their mysteries 
into human ears. And equally certain it is that evergreens 
always have struck, and always will strike, the supreme note in a 
landscape — a note that lifts the imagination to splendid heights. 

But it is all too seldom that they are planted with reference 
to this. In modem gardening they are too apt to be "speci- 
mens," such as the glaucous-foliaged spruces, or golden arbor- 
vitaes; or else they are relegated to the merely utilitarian, and 
planted as shelter belts for something that stands before them 
and focuses the attention. Which is a great pity, for in either 
case the real and lofty grandeur of the order is overlooked and 
hopelessly dimmed, if not altogether obscured. 

To be sure, the question of purpose must be kept in mind quite 
as much here as in all other phases of gardening, for a reason for 
planting must exist, else there can be no excuse for planting 
— ^but this reason need not altogether lack an esthetic side. 
Precise, straight rows of hemlocks or spruce may afford shelter 
from the wind, and may hide a view that is objectionable; 
but it is such planting, utterly devoid of imagination and feeling, 

(98) 




A bit that is strongly suggestive of Italy; certain sites and styles of architecture 
develop this naturally and without effort, and when this is so, none can decry the effect 



W-''W %' 



.■'-"•••"■•jMt' 




One kind again; the greatest depth in the plan on the ground is at the poin; 
greatest height of skyHne; this is invariably true of well arranged planting 




A well-placed group of young hemlocks which will be exceptionally tine as they 
mature into a spicy grove 



Evergreens 



99 



and resulting in a forbidding gloom, that is largely the cause 
of the prejudice which some cherish towards evergreens as a 
class. 

It is quite as possible to group effectively and still secure pro- 
tection, or shut out objectionable features, as it is to plant in 
rows to do so — and in the former case a definite interest is 
created, a bit of true landscape is formed, so that the utilitarian 
is lost sight of completely in the end. Nevertheless the reason 
for planting existed and continues to exist, though it is not 
apparent to the observer. 

Fancy varieties of a tree are seldom worth while, whether 
evergreen or deciduous — and this can never be emphasized too 
much. With evergreens particularly, the temptation to indulge 
in some of the many novelties is constantly before the unwary 
and the true types or natural forms are almost lost sight of. 
Horticultural forms may be interesting in themselves, but re- 
member that it takes something with a greater claim to con- 
sideration than "interest" to build up a beautiful picture. 
The very quality too that makes them interesting when they 
are a novelty, is usually the very thing that makes them tiresome 
when the novelty has worn off. So on the whole it is the ordi- 
nary and accustomed variety which wisdom will select. 

Nothing is more beautiful than the familiar white pine, which 
is native over such an extended area of the United States 
and which will grow practically everywhere ; so what excuse is 
there for using a novelty in place of it? No novelty can have 
withstood the test of generations as the native has — if it had it 
would no longer be a novelty — and the weaknesses it may 
develop cannot even be conjectured. The changes which age 
will bring to it are likewise a matter of guesswork. For there 
are two distinct forms in the life of the majority of the cone- 



loo The Landscape Gardening Book 

bearers. The first — the youthful — is regular, pyramidal and 
somewhat formal ; the last — the mature — is rugged and irregular 
and altogether quite different from anything to be imagined, 
judging from the earlier. With evergreens, where we are plant- 
ing for all time, these differences are very important. 

The period of transition from symmetry to irregularity comes 
at about the twentieth to the twenty-fifth year in some, up to the 
fortieth or fiftieth in others. Hence it is apparent that not 
until a variety has been grown for fifty years in a given soil and 
climate, can it be said positively whether or no it is a success 
tmder those particular conditions. Fifty years hence seems a 
long way off in this day and age of haste — and of course it is a 
long way off — but building a landscape is not a task of to-day 
nor of this year; indeed it is not a task that the builder can 
much more than begin. Even with wisdom and industry beyond 
price at his command, he still must wait on Time. 

And Time goes straight ahead, even though the builder's 
work is ill, quite as bent on finishing it as though it were well, 
and quite as determinedly piling emphasis onto every point 
where emphasis can be made to lodge. This is the thought 
that ought always to be before us — this is the thought that 
guided the builders whose work now remains in the wonderful 
old gardens of the Old World. So, though we may plan for 
to-day, and this year, and the next, of course — plan to get all 
into the present and out of it too, that is possible — we should 
plan ahead at the same time. Patience and this looking ahead 
are always essential in gardening, but especially so when the 
subject of the work is evergreens. Keep an eye constantly to 
the future. Have the quick-growing, short-lived trees for the 
immediate need, but do not omit planting the slower-growing, 
long-lived species to take their places, in the course of time. 



Evergreens i o i 

All that has been said about fancy varieties and novelties 
appHes with even greater force to the "golden-leaved" and 
" silver-tipped ' ' conifers so much in use at present. It is always 
a question whether any tree or shrub with abnormal foliage — 
and variegated foliage is, with one or two exceptions, abnormal 
— is in good taste; and the doubt makes it safer to draw the 
line quite this side of planting them, altogether. Certainly no 
artist would ever dream of painting them, unless many were 
grouped together in such a way as to give them the meaning and 
force which tmity might express. 

This is the test which will ultimately decide the merit of any 
garden work. No planting can be regarded as a complete suc- 
cess if it does not offer, finally, a subject worthy canvas and 
paints and brushes — and a cultivated eye and trained hand to 
use them. It occurs to me that a solitary blue spruce in the 
middle of a lawn will hardly permit even its fondest admirers 
to hope or expect this for it. 

Generally speaking, the grouping of evergreens should follow 
the same lines as the grouping of deciduous trees. Fewer will 
ordinarily need to be planted however, because of their stronger 
individuality and dominating qualities. They may either be 
combined with deciduous trees or planted by themselves. In 
combination with the former, however, they should occupy the 
prominent positions, and should be in either a decided majority 
or a minority. Never use an equal, or nearly equal, number of 
both kinds. 

Usually one variety of evergreen will be fotmd repeated more 
or less often, in any patch of woods or within any special area, 
just as we have noted previously that one variety of deciduous 
tree is nearly always to be foimd dominating in a similar growth. 
The reason of course lies in the fact that all the conditions are 



I02 The Landscape Gardening Book 

exactly suited to give to that variety a little advantage, and 
though other trees may not be crowded out altogether they 
do not multiply as rapidly as the favored one. This leads to 
a "mass effect" quite in line with what Nature continually 
offers — and furnishes the best example possible of ideal plant- 
ing, from the practical as well as the esthetic side. It is, of 
course, in the last analysis, a survival of the fittest. 

Learn what evergreens are best suited to a place before plant- 
ing any, by ascertaining what are native to the region, and to 
the immediate territory. Then make use of these or their nearest 
relatives in all broad-scale planting, governing the selections, 
of course, by the soil conditions of the particular piece of land 
to be planted. A tree that may thrive on a mountain side will 
very often not tolerate the moist valley at the mountain's feet, 
hence the necessity for judging from those trees found growing 
in the immediate territory. 

Pines do not like close, heavy, clay soil, nor will they do well 
on shallow soil because they have a long tap root. Loose sandy 
earth suits them best ; and because they have this tap root that 
reaches deep for moisture, they can endure dry soil. The white 
pine is not so particular as the rest of the family, however, and 
will usually adapt itself to uncongenial places very cheerfully. 
Pines are very intolerant of shade, but the latter will make the 
best of a certain amount of this, too. 

Cedars are at home on wet, even swampy, soils, though as a 
matter of fact they will do better where it is dry. They will 
stand some shade. 

Spruces are shallow-rooted, which always means that a tree 
is adapted to soil that is moist — and they thrive in extreme cold, 
being natives of high altitudes. They mind shade less than 
either of the two first named. 



I 



Evergreens 103 

Firs are trees of high regions too, and some can not endure 
a dry, hot chmate at all, unless shaded and given the coolest 
spots. 

Hemlocks are not exacting and will grow in almost any kind 
of soil providing it is moist. Hemlocks and white pines, by the 
way, are one of Nature's combinations and may often be found 
growing together in large forests, which is a hint toward group- 
ing. Hemlocks stand shade well, as well as the close shearing 
which makes them so good for hedge service. 

The use of two or three varieties of a species is not to be 
recommended with evergreens as with deciduous trees. They 
do not take kindly to mixing, and either the one variety chosen 
should be used, or the combination before referred to which 
Nature herself furnishes in the hemlock and pine. This, with 
deciduous trees interspersed, is as fine an arrangement as it is 
possible to make. Wherever it is possible to make an evergreen 
group the background for some floral display it is well to do so, 
providing the flowers do not detract from the trees. The whole 
should form a picture rather than either one furnishing a feature. 

Rhododendrons fill the requirements of such a position per- 
fectly, being themselves evergreen and harmonizing as almost 
nothing else can with the dignity of the trees. It is not by any 
means essential, however, to carry out such an arrangement 
in order to get the best results from planting the latter, for they 
are sufficient unto themselves. 

The form of the smaller and slower-growing species is of more 
importance than anything else concerning them, for these are 
essentially the material for small places and for formal work. 
Some of these are very thin and long and pointed, others are 
broad and low and globular; selection in this instance should 
be guided by the style of the place, of the house and its garden, 



104 The Landscape Gardening Book 

rather than by any thought for the garden 's future appearance. 
This attitude is allowable to meet the limitations of a small 
place, if one is willing to throw out unsuitable material as fast 
as it becomes unsuitable. As a matter of fact, the growth of 
the horticultural varieties which produce these various forms 
is so slow that, after all, changes will seldom need to be made 
because of increase in size; and the priming shears may be de- 
pended upon to keep them to the hnes which they are expected 
to fill, if they show any tendency to overstep. In many, the 
forms are pretty well fixed and they adhere to them without 
pnming. 

Boxwood should find a place in every garden, great or small, 
the selection of its form also being guided by the style of the 
garden or of the house. The formal, pyramidal box naturally 
takes its place in the formal, stiff and precise garden, or at the 
entrance of the dwelling that is symmetrical in its line. The 
rugged and unconventional bushy box suggests old dooryards, 
and the easy hnes and picturesque charm of farmhouse or cot- 
tage, or the tangle of old-time gardens — suggesting at the same 
time its suitable environment beyond doubt or question. 

Ordinarily evergreens are not regarded with any consideration 
for their shade, yet they offer a most restful depth of it and a cool 
dimness that deciduous trees do not have. The nearest trees 
to a dwelling, however, should be from twenty-five to thirty- 
five feet distant, where their shadow cannot fall upon it. Always 
plant them near enough together to support and defend each 
other under the stress of severe storms, thinning out in subse- 
quent years when they begin to crowd. And plant always two 
deep at least — two deep in an irregular grouping, not two rows, 
one back of the other. 

And, finally, place the deciduous members of a boundary 



Evergreens i 05 

group or a screen mostly in the background to allow the ever- 
greens to show dark and well defined before and among them. 
Leave plenty of room between the two kinds of trees — ^rather 
more than between the trees that are the same — remembering 
that deciduous trees expand very much more and very much 
more rapidly than evergreens, and therefore need a wider berth. 



List of Plants 
for poor soil 

I — Juniperus Virginiana: red cedar; usually about fifty feet, 
sometimes one hundred feet high; this naturally reforests 
arid hills and stony, barren, abandoned lands; will grow 
also on the seashore. 

2 — Pinus rigida: pitch pine; sixty feet high or more; becomes 
contorted and picturesque with age; plant in groups of 
several. 

3 — Picea pungens: Colorado spruce; sometimes one himdred 
feet high, and rapid-growing for an evergreen; foliage is a 
light silvery green, becoming true green with age. 

FOR WET SOIL 

I —Cupressus thyoides (or Chamoecy parts thyoides) : white cedar ; 
seventy feet high or more ; grows in swamps which are imder 
water part of the time. 

2 — Thuya plicata: Nootka Soimd arborvitae, or red, or canoe 
cedar; one hundred and fifty feet high or more; native to 
low moist bottom-lands ; this has not been used as much as 
it should be, but happily it is growing in favor; it is truly 
a giant arborvitae. 

3 — Thuya occidentalis: white cedar or common arborvitae; 



io6 The Landscape Gardening Book 

reaches sixty-five feet high in the wild state were it grows 
thickly on swamp grounds. 

EVERGREENS FOR ROCKY SITUATIONS 

I — Pinus montana: Swiss mountain pine ; variable, being some- 
' times forty feet high and sometimes a mere shrub; this is 
more likely to remain in the latter class and stop growing 
when it has reached a height of from six to twelve feet. 

2 — Picea Engelmanni: Engelmann spruce; sometimes one him- 
dred and twenty-five feet high at maturity; plant always 
in a group. 

^— Pinus monticola: silver or mountain white pine; one hun- 
dred feet high; dense in growth; silvery in color. 




Shrubbery very close to house foundations is always doubtful; this mass 

is well arranged as to height, but the effect would be better if the line 

were interrupted and the house wall allowed to show part of the way 





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In landscape work the individual specimen must always give way to the 
effect of the mass as a whole; the number of spireas here is of no con- 
sequence; the thicket effect is 



CHAPTER XI 

The Use op Shrubs 

THERE seems ever to have been an antagonism between the 
view of a plant which the horticulturist holds, and that of 
the landscape architect. To the former it exists as a 
specimen, an individual that is filling an important place in the 
world, in and by itself. The spread of its branches and the size 
and quantity of its blossoms are the things by which he judges 
it, and by which he values it. Consequently the more these are 
increased, the more any characteristic is exaggerated in it, the 
more valuable does it become to him. Naturally, therefore, his 
whole aim is to provide it with those surroundings which will 
promote such exaggeration to the highest degree. 

But the landscape architect views it from a very different 
point. A plant is to him what a single note is to the musical 
composer, or what the tubes of raw, pure color are to the painter. 
One note, struck by itself, can mean nothing, no matter how 
loud and startling or soft and sweet the tone; one color in a 
great vivid blotch on the canvas expresses nothing, no matter 
how clear and striking it may be. It is only as the note is 
brought into relation with other notes, the color with other 
shades and colors, that a composition takes shape. And plants 
are subject to the same law, producing nothing worthy the name 
when isolated. 

(107) 



io8 The Landscape Gardening Book ^ 

It seems, sometimes, as if the time would never come when 
this truth about them would be realized by everybody. Year 
after year sees the same mistakes made, even on the great 
estates where large sums have been paid for the services of . 
professionals, presumably skilled and cunning in the craft. Yet 
with all the money spent the well planned and well planted place 
remains the exception, so rare as to be startling when one comes 
upon it; while examples of wrong ways, wrong from their 
fimdamental ideas up, are everywhere. Almost every village 
and surburban street presents a solid front of garden miscon- 
ceptions disheartening to behold. 

The two views just cited are of course antagonistic, and 
everyone can readily see how utterly impossible it is ever to 
make them anything else. So no time need be wasted in attempt- 
ing to harmonize them. Instead let us get at once to the business 
of seeing what reasons there are for adopting one and rejecting 
the other. 

First of all it is necessary to realize that there are certain 
special things, grown for show, and for competitive shows, which 
have no more to do with gardening, considered as a fine art, 
than chalk has to do with cheese. The biggest Dahlia in the 
world, winner of all the prizes, would add little or nothing to a 
garden's beauty if it stood outdoors, among the growing things. 
The carefully trained and framed chrysanthemum plant, bearing 
a thousand blossoms, might as well — yea, it might better — ^be a 
coreopsis bush, for all the effect it would create in relation to 
other plants in the border ; and the rose bush, coddled and pnmed 
and petted till it produces a single four-foot-stemmed American 
beauty, becomes a sorry spectacle, once its solitary flower is 
plucked. Yet the Dahlia, the chrysanthemum and the rose are 
universally acclaimed as wonderful horticulttu-al products. 



Shrubs 109 

These may be exaggerated examples, to be sure, but they 
illustrate the point we need to impress upon our minds — that 
- individualism is not the garden's ideal. And though they are 
exaggerated, they are after all only the result of going a few 
steps farther along the path of individual culture than the usual 
practice goes ; the practice which aims to plant shrubs in isola- 
tion "so they can develop." 

Any view that persistently puts the development of a shrub 
before other considerations governing its location, is a mistaken 
one ; and tmtil we once and for all get over cherishing such views 
we shall continue to go wrong in design, and to fail in attaining 
our proper effects. Abandon completely and absolutely the 
mental picture that dissociates "shrub" from "shrubbery," 
and create in its place a picture which unites the two so closely 
that you will come to feel them one object, and synonymous 
terms. 

Then live up to this creation determinedly, and let no remarks 
of misguided neighbors — however well-meaning they may be — 
about things choking to death and having no chance to grow, 
shake your resolution nor divert you from your course. They 
may think you crazy — that is to be expected — ^but you will know 
that you are not. And time, and your grounds, whether little 
or big, will be your vindication ; so what matter what they think ? 

It is very simple if one wishes to reason it out. Any plant 
set in an open space and encouraged to " develop, ' ' is but a few 
steps short of the plant trained with the avowed purpose of 
producing phenomenal flowers or fruits: phenomenal flowers 
or fruits are of absolutely no merit as garden ornaments, and the 
plant trained to produce them suffers a loss in the process 
exactly corresponding to their gain. Hence it follows that a 
plant — or, to speak more definitely, a shrub — set singly, as a 



no The Landscape Gardening Book 

specimen, in a garden or for the adornment of grounds, is an 
anomaly. Grounds are not adorned nor ornamented by shrubs 
of this kind, for it is the shrub itself which holds attention under 
these circumstances. Wonder and perhaps a certain crude ad- 
miration are excited by it — ^but the idea of the place as a whole, or 
of a garden, is lost sight of completely. There is no impression 
of charm and beauty resting upon all ; of a dwelling rising from 
a suitable setting; of an outdoors that appeals and satisfies; of 
a picture that is complete. These things are all sacrificed to a 
monstrous something calculated to draw an astonished "oh!" 
from the beholder. 

With the resolution always to mass " shrubs" until they form 
" shrubbery " and always to plant them so near together that 
they will interfere and encroach upon each other outrageously, 
firmly and immovably fixed so that nothing can shake it, let us 
examine first the points that come up in laying out the ground 
plan of such border or mass. The ground plan naturally takes 
precedence whether it be gardening or architecture that one is 
engaged upon; consequently it is upon that that the gardener 
must concentrate in the beginning. 

Regularity, so far as that implies planting in rows or squares, 
is of course to be avoided in an informal shrubbery border. 
But haphazard, grotesque, zig-zagging is not the way to avoid 
it, neither is what nurserymen call "staggering." A carefully 
worked out plan is the only way, with an equally careful transfer 
of it from the paper to the groimd. Such a plan is made by 
•first drawing in lightly the general large curves, representing the 
inner line of the shrubbery — the line next to the lawn. It is 
assumed of course that the plot to be planted has been laid off to 
scale on the drawing paper, with all existing features shown. 

Then, starting at either end, the first shrubs are located at 




A thicket composed of many kinds of mock orange, several of each being used; the 

period of bloom varies enough to make such a group interesting and the inflorescence 

is quite different in different varieties 




A hedge of rose of Sharon is a mass of bloom when flowers are few; this stands prac- 
tically any amount uf cutting back if it is desirable to keep it to any given heicrht 



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Shrubs i i i 

prominent intervals along this line — that is, at the deepest and 
the shallowest portions of the border. With these placed as a 
sort of general guide, proceed to work from the back out towards 
this Hne, leaving a space of four feet between the tallest and 
largest growing shrubs which make up the back planting. Come 
forward to the boundary border Hne with the lower growing shrubs, 
finishing with the lowest of all, planted about two feet back of 
this line so that their branches may fall approximately upon it. 

This working from background to foreground insures an easy 
and flowing line at the edge of the border, whereas the reverse 
method — placing the shrubs along this inner border line first and 
working thence back to the outside — though easier perhaps, is 
likely to result in a stiff and hard inner line that is neither natural 
nor beautiful. Do not attempt to have the shrubs along the 
foreground line equally distant from each other ; rather avoid this 
and let them come as they will, keeping them always from two 
and one-half to four feet apart at least. They may in many 
places be five to seven feet apart. 

The species and variety of practically every one should be 
determined as the shrub is set down upon the plan, otherwise 
difficulties will arise over the distances between them. In a 
very large planting this is not always essential as there will be 
certain locations calling for many of one kind. But even here 
it is well to have a general idea of what each lesser group com- 
posing the large group is to be, as they are set down. It takes 
time — but it is the only thorough way. 

For field work the plan is divided into squares of convenient 
size, and every shrub in a given square is located by a stake 
driven into the ground, which is labeled to correspond with the 
label on the plan and on the shrub. This is done before any 
planting in that particular square is begun. 



112 



The Landscape Gardening Book 



Reference has been made in a previous chapter to sky line. It is 
as much to be considered in planting shrubs as trees, for although 
the top of shrubbery may not cut the sky when viewed under 
ordinary circumstances, the outline of its top, taken as a whole, 
has an important place in a composition. To give this sufficient 



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The lawn ought always to run into the border, making little vistas that 
suggest distance and space 

variation there must be intervals of comparatively low-growing 
varieties that are not backed up by larger specimens ; and these 
intervals, constituting the variation in the "profile" or vertical 
section of the border, must be as carefully thought out and 
planned as the ground plan of the group. 

Generally speaking, they will take the groimd plan for their 
guide and rise from it, quite as the elevation of a building rises 
from its plan; but here, as in architecture, the designer must 



Shrubs 113 

have the instinct which adopts the right form and rejects the 
others. The diagram appended shows the principle, and the 
manner in which the plan serves as a guide to the profile. 
Notice that wherever the border deepens on the groimd, it rises 
higher in the elevation. By determining the ground plan first 
therefore, the elevation will rise from it almost automatically, 
with no trouble to the designer and no confusion. And a glance 
at the elevation shows exactly where the tallest and the lowest 
shrubs must stand, and the intermediate ones as well. 

Make your plan therefore first, in rough sketch form; then 
develop the elevation or profile above it on the paper — this for 
convenience in carrying the distances and lines directly from one 
to the other — and then proceed to the planting detail. This 
matter of lines and forms soimds very dry and technical I know 
when one is longing for lilacs and roses and all the summer's 
sweetness, and I can well imagine the impatience with which 
many a heart will bum at the idea of calculating beauty in so 
unpoetical a fashion. 

But the most careful calculation is all that genius is, really 
— an "infinite capacity for taking pains" — and no lovely garden 
ever just happened. I have said it before but it will bear repeat- 
ing, many a time and oft. For it is so little realized — and so 
true. Consciously or imconsciously the creator of every beautiful 
garden has calculated every effect of line as well as color, of back- 
ground as well as foreground, of light and of shade. 

And so I have placed the emphasis on plan and line especially, 
for just the reason that the thought of them is so hateful to so 
many. They are classified in the adult mind about as scales, 
and five-finger exercises, and grammar are in the mind of the 
child — things to be slid over and gotten arotmd by hook or crook 
if possible. But you cheat yourself on your garden, by such 



114 The Landscape Gardening Book 

evasion, quite as much as you would have cheated yourself on 
your English, if you had been allowed free rein as a yoimgster. 
At last, however, with the plan and sky line outlined before 
us, we can go on to the joyous phase of shrub planting — the 
phase which has to do with their greenery and their flowers and 
all their lovely poesy, the phase which is commonly considered 
to be real gardening. 

Briefly, there are five things constantly to have in mind when 
grouping shrubs; their height, their time of flowering, their 
flower color, their habit, and their preference for sun or shade. 
And there are two things to be aimed at in every mixed shrub- 
bery border; succession of bloom and harmonious coloring. 
The profile drawing will show locations as to height, the groimd 
plan locations as to spread — or habit. These two are therefore 
practically disposed of and predetermined, so the questions of 
inflorescence and sun or shade are all that one need trouble 
about. The plans here given are detailed for sun; partial 
shade will not require any change however, and complete shade 
is a circumstance that is hardly likely to arise in a border of this 
extent. 

Finally, as the last word, let me urge the open center. This is 
more important than grouping, or bloom, or sky line, or any- 
thing else. Always confine shrub masses to outer edges or 
boundaries, leaving broad sweeps of lawn framed by them, but 
never cut into by either beds or solitary bushes. The single 
shrub which the plan shows at the end of the mass, and the one 
isolated from it, yet a part of it, midway, are not exceptions to 
this rule, for neither of these breaks the continuity of the mass. 
That is the test always — the continuity of the mass — whether that 
mass is lawn, flower border, shrub border, or woods and thicket. 



Shrubs 115 

List of Plants 
shrubs used in the border given 

I — Hypericum proltficum: St. John's wort; usually three feet 
high — varies; any soil, sun or shade; dense-growing with 
glossy, dark green leaves ; flowers yellow, large and numerous ; 
blossoms continuously from July on through September. 

2 — Deutzia gracilis, rosea: dwarf Deutzia ; four feet high ; any soil, 
sun or shade; flowers white, tinged with pink, in long loose 
clusters ; blossoms in May. 

3 — Lonicera Morrowi: Japanese bush honeysuckle ; six feet high ; 
any garden soil; flowers white, turning to yellowish; blos- 
soms in May; covered with handsome ruby berries from 
late in July on. 

4 — Diervilla, Eva Rathke: hybrid Weigela; six to eight feet 
high; branches erect but arching and spreading; likes a 
rather moist soil and prefers partial shade; shade is not 
essential, however; quantities of deep carmin*e-red flowers; 
blossoms in June and on during the summer. 

5 — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: golden bells; eight feet high ; 
any soil; upright growing with low arching branches; 
yellow flowers along every branch and twig; blossoms 
before the leaves appear in earliest spring; foliage dark 
green, clean and attractive. 

6 — Hibiscus Syriacus: Rose of Sharon; twelve feet high; any 
soil; erect, almost stiff, upright growth; blossoms from 
July on through September. 

a — variety Due de Bretagne, rose-colored flowers. 

b — variety Joan of Arc, pure white, very double flowers. 

7 — Syringa vulgaris : common lilac; twelve feet high or more; 
any ordinary soil; familiar lilac-colored flowers; blossoms 
usually about the middle of May on into June. 



ii6 



The Landscape Gardening Book 



8 — Viburnum Lantana: wayfaring tree; twenty feet high; any 
soil; small white flowers clustered in dense flat cymes; 
blossoms in May and June; scarlet berries follow. 

9 — Amygdalus communis (or Prunus Amygdalus), rosea plena: 
double rose-flowered almond; peach-like tree, sometimes 
ten to twenty-five feet high; any soil; flowers large, pink 
and showy, before the leaves ; blossoms in April or May. 

lo — Hydrangea paniculata: hydrangea; ten to twenty feet high, 
tree-like; any well drained soil, with plenty of moisture; 
flowers white, in large loose panicles, less heavy and dense 
than in Hydrangea p., grandi flora, but more pleasing in 
many ways; blossoms in August and September. 

This border requires eighty-eight shrubs to plant it. These 
are divided among the ten varieties as follows; of number i, 
two are required; of number 2, eleven; of number 3, nine; of 
number 4, fourteen; of number 5, nine; of number 6-a, eleven; 
of number 6-6, eight; of number 7, fifteen; of number 8, seven; 
of number 9, one; of number 10, one. 



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A twenty-five foot comer planting of 
perpetual fragrance 



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Same size comer planted with three 
of the commonest wayfarers 



SHRUBS IN SWEET-SCENTED BORDER 

I — Callicarpa purpurea: purple "beauty fruit"; four feet high; 
any good soil; small pink flowers in abundance; blossoms 



Shrubs 117 

m August; branches slender and later weighted with 
quantities of pinkish-purple berries. 

2 — Philadelphus Lemontei, Avalanche: hybrid mock orange; 
six feet high ; any well drained soil ; will grow under trees : 
branches arching and graceful ; flowers white, showy, along 
the length of the branches, very fragrant ; blossoms in June. 

3 — Calycanthus floridus: sweet shrub, Carolina allspice or straw- 
berry shrub; six feet high; any well drained soil, sun or 
shade; solitary brown flowers, very fragrant; blossoms in 
June; branches and leaves also fragrant. 

4 — Clethra alnifoUa: sweet pepperbush or white alder; eight to 
ten feet high; likes a moist soil such as woods afford, but 
does well in border; small white flowers in spikes, showy 
and fragrant ; blossoms in July and on through September. 

5 — Benzoin odoriferum: spice bush; twelve feet high; any soil; 
tiny yellow flowers along the naked branches; blossoms in 
March or as soon as frost is gone; very fragrant, wood and 
leaves also aromatic. 

SHRUBS IN BORDER OF THREE VARIETIES 

I — Rhus typhina: staghom sumach; eight to twelve feet high; 

any soil; fine glossy foliage, brilliant autumn color and 

characteristic "sumach bobs" all winter. 
2 — Sambucus Canadensis: common elderberry; six to eight feet 

high; any soil; flat clusters of white flowers, familiar; 

blossoms in early June; berries tiny, black, edible. 
3 — Rhus aromatica: fragrant sumach; low-growing usually, three 

to four feet high, or less; spreading as an undergrowth; 

fine autumn color and foliage velvety in texture and attrac- 
tive always. 



CHAPTER XII 

The Place of Flowers 

IT is decidedly contrary to our American ideas, but it is never- 
theless a fact that a garden may be absolutely flowerless, 
and yet be lovely. And on the other hand, one may have 
a world of flowers and yet have no garden, in the true sense. In 
other words, flowers do not make a garden, revolutionary though 
the thought may seem. If you are tempted to doubt, consider 
how many places you know where it is possible to go and look 
at quantities of beautiful flowers, but quite impossible to feel 
or to say, as you look, "what a beautiful garden!" 

The conception of them which immediately establishes their 
real place, holds them to be the garden's jewels — the bright gems 
with which its design is embellished and "picked out," as a 
jeweler would say. They may be used in quite as lavish abun- 
dance with this idea prevailing as any enthusiast can wish — 
but they will be used quite differently from the customary 
fashion of planting wherever fancy strikes, and the space pre- 
sents itself. 

However beautiful the ruby, the opal, the sapphire may be, 
lying unset within one's hand, none will deny that their loveliness 
is brought out and shines to far greater advantage when the 
craftsman has worked them into proper relation with each other. 
Associated with the metal that forms a clearly thought out and 

(ii8) 



Flowers 119 

purposeful pattern around them, supporting them and binding 
them into place, their beauty gains as they attain to the dignity 
of meaning, of purpose. And, to carry the analogy still farther, the 
designer gives the eye intervals of rest from the dazzle of precious 
stones in a piece of jewelry, which correspond exactly to the relief 
from color and brilliance which should be provided for it in the 
garden. 

The rule of contrast that came in for attention when light and 
shade were under consideration, here presents itself again. 
Applied to the question in hand, it shows us at once that there 
must be places where no flowers bloom, in order to accent and 
emphasize the flowery spots. It more than hints that the secret 
of brilliancy and a spirited liveliness in the garden lies in the 
liberal use of white flowers — ^because, of course, white furnishes 
a much more vivid contrast with many colors than green, and 
contrasts more vividly with green itself. Indeed, white blossoms 
are in one way the most precious of all — the diamonds of the 
collection, that enhance the colors of all they are brought in 
contact with and at the same time reconcile them to one another 
when they are inclined to clash. But this I mention only in 
passing ; the questions that have to do with color are premature 
just here, for the first proposition must deal with the locating 
of flowers in the garden — with the manner of determining their 
place in any particular garden design. 

Sometimes it is easier to find out what ought to be done by 
eliminating the things that ought not to be done than by any 
other process. I think this is especially true of gardening, from 
the landscape or pictorial side, at any rate. We have grown so 
accustomed to doing it wrong that the habits are fixed, and we 
cannot oust them by the accepted simple plan of ignoring them, 
and cultivating the right ones in their places. They simply 



120 The Landscape Gardening Book 

will not be crowded out, even though the better ideas are re- 
quired. They crop up continually, like noxious weeds — so up 
1 y the roots let us drag them, and start anew. 

First, here is the flower bed habit. This is surely the greatest 
abomination of them all! It is going to die hard, even with 
those who truly wish to kill it. Many there are, alas! who will 
not wish to; for its star and its crescent, its circle and its triangle, 
have so impressed themselves upon its victims that they cannot 
see a stretch of smooth and velvet turf without an instant tempta- 
tion to fall upon it, and carve some one of these mystic symbols 
from its heart. 

But lest I seem unduly prejudiced, let me hasten to say that 
there are places for flower beds — a few places — and that, in 
their place, I am not objecting to them in the least. True, I 
have never been able to see any beauty in the gimcrackery which 
shapes them on the elaborate lines that good, wise, old Bacon 
dismissed contemptuously with, "They be but toys; you may 
see as good sights many times in tarts ' ' — ^but they need not be 
shaped on such lines. He spoke of the parterre filled with 
colored sands instead of flowers, to be sure — ^but the fancy beds 
of to-day, filled with exotic and perishable stuff, are the direct 
descendants of these sanded parterres; "knots or figures with 
divers-coloured earths. ' ' 

A flower bed brings us again to the flowers' likeness to jewels; 
for properly placed, a bed occupies a position in the garden corre- 
sponding to the position of a properly used jeweled pin or buckle 
on a robe. (I say "properly used" to evade the dictum of 
fashion which is sometimes known to strain a point for the sake 
of adding a little extra trimming.) A study of the costimie of 
any well clad race will show at once that pins clasp two portions 
of a garment together, or hold the folds of some drapery in 



Flowers i 2 1 

place; that buckles buck;le something. Indeed by going back 
to derivatives, the idea can be emphasized still more, for " buckle ' * 
comes from " bode, ' ' which is the boss at the center of the ancient 
skin-covered, wicker-woven buckler or shield — the meeting and 
gathering up of the wicker at the center being the reason for the 
prominence. 

Here is exactly the demonstration of reasonable and proper use 
that we need. Likening the flower bed to a jeweled buckle, it is 
at once apparent that the places where it may suitably be located, 
must be focusing points in the general design. They must be 
centers; not necessarily in the midst or middle of the general 
scheme, but points in the design to which the strong lines con- 
verge, or from which paths branch. In such positions a flower 
bed of simple form — circular or oval or conforming to the lines 
which approach it — is in good taste. Elsewhere it is exactly 
what an elaborate, jeweled buckle or pin is, when attached toav 
gown in some utterly and obviously useless position — a gaucherie 
of which one does not like to feel oneself capable. 

The beds which carry out the design of a formal garden are 
of course exempt from this condemnation, having as they do, a 
very real place in the design. These too, however, should be of 
the simplest form and outline, and so aiTanged as to give the 
relief already spoken of, which comes of suitable spacing. All 
other flower beds fall under the ban. Let them be taboo to those 
who want them — and who, for wanting them, deserve them. 

In every branch of landscape planting there is one question 
that ever and ever again recurs; that question is, "Is there a 
reason for doing this?" Not simply the personal reason of 
like or dislike, but a real reason, based on logic and good sense 
and utility ; this is the kind that must be advanced to gain the 
approval of the highest standards. And this is the kind that may 



122 The Landscape Gardening Book 

be advanced for the garden form known as a "border." The 
name alone imphes that. 

A border follows something, borders something, ornaments 
something; is an attribute of something greater than itself. It 
is secondary to some more important thing, to a conception of a 
whole — in the case of a garden, secondary to some particular por- 
tion of it, taken as a whole. Possibly it follows a walk or a 
drive, or the side of a building, or the line of a terrace, or the 
margin of a lawn. It really does not matter what it follows 
so long as it follows something. So long as it is truly a border, 
be sure that it cannot go wrong ; the limitations of that definite 
name will keep it what it ought to be. 

It may be straight and narrow, like the path of virtue, or it 
may dawdle along in all manner of curves, according to the 
thing it follows. That is a matter of secondary importance that 
will settle itself; likewise its length is pre-determined by cir- 
cumstances and sometimes, though not always, its width. A 
border that can be reached from both sides may of course be 
wider than one which must be tended from only one. 

Generally speaking, it is safe to say that walks within private 
grounds ought always to have a border, on one side anyway, if not 
on both — the exigencies of the situation will decide this. The 
hedge, fence or lattice divisions between different parts of the 
grovmds also invite such treatment, invariably. I should, how- 
ever, hardly call the planting of perennials in the foreground of 
shrubbery, a border in themselves, for they are placed inter- 
mittently when thus used, and only when they and the shrubs 
are considered together, does a "border" result. 

Any wild roadside, where Nature has been aMowed to have 
her way undisturbed, is usually an unrivalled object lesson in 
planting, for both color and mass. One of the loveliest borders 



Flowers 123 

I have ever seen followed the bank of a tiny brooklet, as it mean- 
dered across a meadow which lay at the foot of a gentle slope, 
whereon dwelt some splendid beeches. Here Nature and Art 
combined and from early, tender, spring until the lusty autumn, 
color succeeded color in the magic broidery that fringed the little 
stream, and divided the pleasaunce from a hay field beyond. 

Only the native plants and " weeds ' ' had found lodgment there, 
and it was wild in the best sense of the word. One thing or 
another dominated it at different times during the season, but 
there was never an unbroken line of bloom the entire length of it. 
Early in the summer fugitive clumps of iris, bearing a scattered 
dozen blossoms, broadened suddenly here and there into great 
masses which presented a marvel of almost solid blue. Between 
these masses, however, the blue gave way to long stretches of 
vari-colored green, where no blossoms were. 

Later, marsh mallows spread their pink loveliness like rosy 
clouds, at intervals ; daisies flourished in dazzling whiteness, and 
elder and the meadow sweet ; then came goldenrod, and white and 
purple wild aster. Each fortnight or month brought its domi- 
nant note ; but always there were quantities of green and plenty of 
white, so nothing ever clashed though each strong color held over 
tmtil its successor was well established. And the whole length 
of this "border" — several hundred feet — was always a treat for 
even the weariest eyes, or head, or heart, every day, all summer. 

Here then is one of the fimdamental secrets — if secrets they 
be — of planting a border, or, speaking more broadly, of planting 
flowers. Let there be a succession of dominance, not merely a 
succession of bloom. Let one color, in different shades, be 
repeated, here in a mass, there in a few fugitive blossoms, 
throughout the whole. By this I do not mean that other colors 
are to be excluded, by any means — ^but everything should be 



124 The Landscape Gardening Book 

secondary to blues when blues prevail, to yellows when they lead, 
to scarlet, to pink, to any dominant hue. 

Of course this means that clumps, varying in size, of the lead- 
ing varieties chosen, should be planted more than once and possi- 
bly several times in the length of a border. These, blooming 
simultaneously, carry the color throughout the whole; then, 
when they have finished blossoming, they furnish the necessary 
intervals of green, while their neighbors, who have been their 
green reinforcement, go on with the procession under the color 
which they have to offer. White-flowered plants of one kind 
and another will supply blossoms to keep each delegation com- 
pany, while odds and ends, planted, one kind in a group here, 
another kind there, may fill in the "chinks" and give sufficient 
variation to stimulate interest. 

In other words a multitude of colors may and should be pres- 
ent at all times, but in this multitude one should always be more 
in evidence than the others. It is practically the same as a color 
scheme in anything else: a gown, a room, a jeweled bauble, a 
picture — each one has its color motif. Other colors appear, com- 
plementing sometimes, contrasting or harmonizing, as the case 
may be, but always secondary to the leading color. If this is not 
so, what a disastrous failure any one of the things mentioned is 
sure to be ! 

Certain tones dominate when used in much less quantity than 
others. Yellow for example comes right out and shouts wherever 
it appears, and for this reason less plants producing yellow flowers 
are needed, than of any other hue. Blue, on the contrary, con- 
tinually retires, consequently it must be used in profusion; this 
is true of purple also, only in less degree. Red stands about 
midway between the yellow and blue, growing less obtrusive as 
it grows darker. Remember, too, that blue is the color to use 



Flowhrs 



125 



when a sense of distance in small space is to be produced, or 
actual space exaggerated ; while yellow diminishes space in rather 
more than inverse ratio, bringing even remote points forward 
and into the pictiire, in a sometimes startling fashion. 

The kinds of flowers to plant are of course largely a matter 
of individual preferment. Annuals, lovely though they may be, 
can hardly be seriously considered in a composition that must, 
primarily, be permanent in order to enjoy that charm which is 
one of a garden's chief est — that exquisite mellowing, like fine 
wine, under the 
lapse of time. 
And certainly the 
mixing of hardy 
perennials and an- 
nuals is not advis- 
able, though there 
is no objection to 
a few seeds of 
some favorite 
among the latter 
being scattered in 
a vacancy, or a 
sparsely filled spot 
in a hardy border. 

There is always 
room for a little 

more, even in a well filled planting, and that is the chance which 
the quick-growing annual may take advantage of; but as a 
class, annuals should be kept by themselves. Certain borders 
can be given up to them, such as the space above the early, 
spring-flowering bulbs. After these have bloomed is plenty of 




Garden suggestion for a fifty-foot square; simple lines 
are best whatever the area 



126 



The Landscape Gardening Book 



time to sow the seed, and neither kind of plant suffers by reason 
of the other's presence. 

A turf margin should always divide borders from a walk, drive 
or path, while an edging of some one, low-growing white flower 
or a dwarf, ornamental grass is an advantage in all other locations 
except, of course, the absolutely informal and very wild. 

The natural fashion of plant- 
ing certain things should be 
employed even though no other 
flowers are possible — or even 
though a large garden may be 
laid out and luxuriantly filled 
with all sorts of rare and beau- 
tiful things. Certain spots will 
admit of no other treatment, 
and effects are possible that sur- 
pass all others in charm through 
this scattering with a lavish 
hand, just as Nature herself scat- 
ters. Every lawn thus may and 
should have its quota of flowers 
growing in the grass, and the 
tiniest lawn is not too tiny to 
be spangled, for all time, with the flowers of two early blooming 
and consequently precious bulbous plants that are perfectly 
hardy, and that will not be killed out by ever so close mowing. 
And grass that is not to be cut until late and then only with a 
scythe — meadow growth or the semi- wild — may be planted with 
other later flowering things. 

The naturalization is accomplished most easily, I find, by 
scattering the bulbs from a basket or pail, held high enough — 




Thirty-five by fifty feet, developed room- 
ily by means of a vista through the 
entrance arches to stin-dial and seat 



Flowers i 27 

shoulder height — to drop them with sufficient force to send them 
rolling in every direction. The number of bulbs to be used runs 
all the way from twenty-five to a thousand or as many more as 
there is space for. Spill them recklesly in the smaller groups by 
simply turning the basket upside down; in larger quantities it 
may be given a toss as it is overturned, flinging them just as 
water would be flung along the ground. 

They will roll off in all directions and some will lie in close little 
clumps and others will spread and journey far, and there will be 
bare spaces where none are. This is exactly the way they should 
do: plant them just where they finally lie. When two kinds 
are to be used together, scatter the larger ones first, then the 
smaller. This gives the latter a chance to roll in around the 
former in the same way that they would naturally work aroimd 
them underground, in the process of growth. 

Lists of Plants 

Herbaceous perennials is the term commonly used to indicate 
hardy flowering plants which, given a place in the garden, do not 
need renewing from year to year. They do, however, need a 
little care and attention in the shape of digging up and dividing 
every three or four years. The tendency of these plants to 
spread at the roots causes them to crowd themselves in the course 
of three or four seasons; division is therefore quite necessary, 
if they are not to choke to death. 

Herbaceous plants die to the ground every winter and rise 
from the roots each spring. Their stems are succulent instead 
of woody, like a shrub ; and they are of all flowering plants the 
most satisfactory, because the most permanent. 



128 The Landscape Gardening Book 

HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS BLOOM CARRIED THROUGH 

SUMMER 

1 — Adonis Amurensis: bird's eye; nine inches high; any soil, 
light and moist being preferable ; does equally well in sun or 
part shade; foliage femhke; flowers broad and yellow; 
blossoms in April. 

2 — Pcsonia officinalis: peony; eighteen inches high; rich soil — it 
cannot be too rich nor too much enriched, for peonies are 
greedy; there are a myriad hybrids and special lists are 
issued by all dealers; the choice is a matter of color pref- 
erence more than anything else; the flowers of the double- 
flowered forms usually last longer, on the plant or cut, than 
the flowers of the single varieties ; blossoms in May ; flowers 
fragrant and as showy as the finest roses — this is one of the 
finest flowering plants in the world. 

3 — Lupinus polyphyllus: lupine; three feet high; any garden soil, 
give water after simdown in very dry weather ; long straight 
spikes of blue to white flowers; blossoms in May; plant in 
groups of half a dozen or as many more as desirable, or 
possible. 

4 — Phlox decussata (or P. paniculata) : hardy phlox ; two to five 
feet high according to the variety ; any good garden soil ; in 
selecting phlox it is largely a matter of seeing the plant in 
bloom and choosing the colors preferred, always using a 
quantity of white if several colors are chosen; a color pro- 
gression leading from white to deep red is one of the most 
effective ways of using phlox, where there is space for so 
many plants ; in such a planting all inharmonious magentas 
must be kept out and only the gradually deepening pinks 
that blend used; get early and late varieties and cut the 
flower heads off as soon as they have faded ; this will insure 



Flowers 129 

blossoms from June on throughout the summer; always 
plant in masses, setting the plants eighteen inches apart. 

5 — Delphinium elatum: bee larkspur; three to five feet high; rich 
garden soil; tall slender spikes of blue flowers, varying in 
shade from light to dark ; blossoms in June and on. 

6 — Althea rosea: hollyhock; four to six feet high; well drained 
soil, but give plenty of water during drought ; double- and 
single-flowered forms are both fine ; as they are easily raised 
from seed, planted outdoors where they are to grow, it is 
possible to get a mixture of colors and then save the plants 
that are most satisfactory, after seeing them bloom; seed- 
lings will blossom the second season if the seed is sown before 
July 15; as hollyhocks are subject to a fungous disease, it 
is best to start new plants from seed every other year ; these 
seem to be healthier than old and established plants, coming 
from roots that have been long in the garden ; blossoms in 

Jt^iy- 

7 — Digitalis lanata: wooly foxglove; two to three feet high; any 
soil, rather light and rich; will endure shade; flowers some- 
what funnel-shaped, ranged along the very tall, strong 
upright stalks half their length, the lower ones opening first 
and the upper end of the stall-c continuing to grow higher as 
the inflorescence ascends it ; gray, yellow, purplish or whitish ; 
blossoms in July and August; may be raised from seed; 
plant in masses, setting the plants from fourteen to eighteen 
inches apart. 

8 — Clematis recta: bush clematis; two to three feet high; ordi- 
narily rich garden soil ; white blossoms in large loose clus- 
ters, fragrant ; blossoms in June and on through August. 

9 — Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, hybrid: Shasta daisy; two 
feet high ; any soil ; large white daisy flowers ; blossoms from 



130 The Landscape Gardening Book 



July on through summer and fall ; may be raised from seed 
easily. 

10 — Boltonia latisquama: false chamomile; three to five feet 
high; any soil; flowers similar to the small wild asters of the 
fields and roadsides, pink tinged with lilac; blossoms in 
July on to September; produced in greatest abundance; 
use in the back of the flower border or before the shrubbery 
border; may be raised from seed. 

II — Gypsophila paniculata, flora plena: double-flowering "ba- 
by's breath;" three to three and a half feet high; any soil, 
in the sun; tiny white rosette-like flowers in abundance 
all over the plant, making it look like gauze; blossoms in 
August and September; not likely to come true from seed, 
though it may ; plants are a more certain way of securing it ; 
plant from three to five in a group. 

12 — Funkia subcordata, grandiflora: white plantain lily; two to 
two and a half feet high; any soil, in sim or shade ; large shin- 
ing, heart-shaped leaves ; white lily-like flowers ; blossoms in 
August and September ; excellent for edging a border as the 
foliage is charming throughout the season; plant singly or 
in clumps; buy plants. 

ANNUALS TO BE USED FOR IMMEDIATE EFFECT 

I — Delphinium ajacis, hybrid: annual larkspur; three feet high; 
likes a cool and moist soil; many colors — shades of pink, 
blue variegated and pure white ; get the mixed seeds or any 
preferred color; sow outdoors where the plants are to grow 
as soon as frost leaves the ground; will germinate in about 
a fortnight ; thin until the plants stand about a foot apart. 

2 — Aster Sinensis, hybrid "Comet": giant-branching China or 
annual aster; eighteen to twenty-four inches high; heavy 



^ 



Flowers 



131 



loam well enriched with manure and treated to wood ashes; 
flowers very full and plumy, resembling the florist's chrys- 
anthemum; blossoms in August; mixed colors; start seed 
indoors in late March or April for early-blooming plants and 
transplant the seedlings to out-doors as soon as frost has 
gone; for later-blooming plants sow the seed outdoors 
where they are to stand, not later than May ; plants should 
be nine to twelve inches apart finally. 

3 — Arctotts grandis: African daisy; two to three feet high; 
ordinary soil, in sunny place; large and showy daisy-like 
flowers, white above, tinged with lilac beneath; blossoms 
in July and on to hard frost; start seed indoors or in the 
ground after frost is gone ; will germinate in about a week ; 
keep in masses but give the plants as much room as they 
seem to need. 

4 — Calendula officinaUs: pot marigold; twelve inches high; any 
light warm soil; flowers in all shades of yellow to white; 
blossoms from early summer on until frosts kill the plants; 
mixed seeds will give a harmonious collection; start in the 
ground as early as possible. 

5 — Iheris amara, hybrid dwarf: annual candytuft; six inches 
high; any soil; small upright clusters of white flowers, fra- 
grant; blossoms in June; sow seed outdoors early in April, 
thin out when the seedlings are an inch high ; sow again the 
end of May and again late in July for succession of bloom ; in 
this way it may be had in blossom all summer; especially 
suited for edging. 

6 — Centaurea cyanus, double-flowered: blue bottle, ragged 
sailor, bachelor's button or bluet; eighteen inches high; 
light soil; this may be had in blue, rose or white, but the 
characteristic color is blue, and pure seed therefore seems 



132 The Landscape Gardening Book 

to be the better choice; blossoms from midsummer until 
frost ; sow in the ground as early as possible. 

7 — Cleome pungens: giant spider flower; three feet high; any 
soil; particularly useful among shrubbery, being rank of 
growth and showy; flowers rosy-crimson with a suggestion 
of violet ; curious, clustered in heads at the top of the upright - 
growing stems ; sow seed in the open ground as early as may 
be ; thin so that the plants may develop, but keep in masses 
of from six to any desired number; very effective in long 
hedge-like border at some distance, also useful for screening. 

S—Papaver Rhoeas, Shirley: com poppy, Shirley strain: two 
feet high ; sandy loam ; single flowers in white and shades of 
pink to deep crimson, no two alike; blossoms from mid- 
summer on; sow thinly, very early in spring while ground 
is cool and moist, where they are to be; poppies will not bear 
transplanting; thin to six inches apart; make successive 
sowings during the summer for successive bloom. 

g — Phlox Drummondi, grandi flora: large-flowering annual phlox; 
twelve inches high; light loamy soil; white, pink, lilac, 
crimson or primrose; sow in the ground as soon as possible 
or indoors very early and transplant; thin to about twelve 
inches apart ; blossoms from midsummer on ; keep in masses. 

10 — Matkiola incana, hybrids: stocks, " cut-and-come-again ; " 
twelve to eighteen inches high; deep garden soil; white, pink, 
blue, yellow or lilac flowers crowded along the erect stalks ; 
blossoms in July and on ; sow seed indoors in March for early 
flowers and transplant on a cloudy day ; or sow in the ground 
as early as possible ; get seed in mixture or in any preferred 
color. 
The length of blooming period for annuals depends almost 

entirely on the planting of the seed. The earlier the seeds 



Flowers 



133 



are started, the earlier will the flowers come, of course. But 
with even the very earliest possible sowing out-of-doors the 
blossoming period can hardly be reached before July. It usually 
extends to frost however, and if it does not, successive plantings 
will carry it on as late as one may choose. 

The ten varieties here given are all that a good-sized garden 
should attempt to entertain. Grouped and arranged according 
to the methods which would be followed with hardy perennials 
in the same amount of space, there is no reason why these should 
not furnish as lovely and brave a feast for the eyes as perennials. 
It is simply a question of arrangement— of keeping to the stand- 
ards of line and form and mass. 

Bulbs for Naturalizing 

for close cut lawn 

Scilla Sihirica: Siberian squill; four inches high, lily-like 
leaves ; any soil ; plant in quantities of never less than twenty- 
five; set the bulbs out in early autumn, planting to a depth 
of twice their diameter; flowers a deep and beautiful blue, 
on an erect stem; blossoms in March and April; endures 
shade nicely. 

Galanihus nivalis: common snowdrop; six inches high; ordinary 
soil, which should however be cool and shady, where mid- 
summer sun cannot reach the ground to bake the bulb; 
flowers white, solitary and drooping ; blossoms in March and 
sometimes earlier, coming actually through the snow; plant 
in quantities of never less than twenty-five— fifty or a him- 
dred will be better; the foot of a tree, either evergreen or 
deciduous, suits them admirably; for meadows, orchards 
and lawns. 



134 The Landscape Gardening Book 

Narcissus poeticus: pheasant's eye or poets' narcissus; 
twelve to eighteen inches high; any soil that is thoroughly 
well drained; familiar white solitary flowers, fragrant; 
blossoms in May; plant this only where the grass is not cut 
until late June and then only cut with a scythe. 

Ornithogalum umbellatum: star of Bethlehem; six inches high; 
foliage Hly-like and abundant; flowers white, numerous; 
blossoms in May ; plant in patches of ten to twenty-five or 
any number desired, where grass is not cut by a lawn mower. 



CHAPTER XIII 
Winter and the Garden 

THE garden should be, always, a delightful place, "a very 
pleasant spot," according to the old definition of the 
word. Yet this is just what it so often is not, in winter — 
not because of the winter, but because of our way of meeting the 
winter. The forlorn dejection of rose bushes, trussed up in 
straw until they look like tombstones, is too woeful a sight for 
even the stoutest hearted to behold unmoved. Rhododendrons 
enclosed with chicken-wire, with a litter of autumn leaves 
covering them and filling their disreputable cages, are a distress- 
ing and ignominious transformation from the summer's royal 
splendor. And all the other homesick little things that are shut 
up in dark box or barrel prisons — how their loneliness and dreari- 
ness penetrates! It is more chill than winter wind. 

All shrubs are of course hardy in their native cHme ; therefore 
the simplest way out of the question of winter protection of 
plants is to evade it altogether by using only native species. 
These will not need protecting. However, it is useless to counsel 
such restraint as this, I know; no one will practice it, for there 
are too many lovely things that grow in kindlier climes than ours 
and yet that may be grown here, " with winter protection, ' ' for us 
to resist. The next best thing therefore is to find a way of giving 
this protection with the least possible ofTense to the eye. 

(135) 



136 The Landscape Gardening Book 

The thought of it should always lie back of ev^ery garden's 
arrangement. Every garden may be planned so that the pro- 
tection of its delicate citizens need not present such difficulties 
as it commonly does. It is only a question of beginning right, 
just the same as practically all the other garden questions — 
beginning right and using common sense, along with a little 
ingenuity. 

First of all it is necessary to know just what it is that con- 
stitutes the winter's danger to vegetation. Commonly we think 
of it as being the cold, and the snow and sleet and storms gen- 
erally; but as matter of fact, these are not as grave a menace to 
many things as the simshine. The rays of the sim stimulate 
plants to premature activity if allowed to fall directly upon 
them, on even what may seem a cold winter day ; and this pre- 
mature activity is what is so fatal. Winter protection is designed 
to keep warmth away from them — to keep them in the cold 
quite as much as it is to keep them from it — in other words, to 
keep them dormant during the season when they should be 
dormant. 

The sunlight that is injurious to their tops is just as injurious to 
their roots too; for, although it only reaches ground above the 
roots, it thaws this after it has frozen, and warms it too much 
during the middle of the day. Then follows a chill when the 
sun sets and freezing begins again. So the groimd around roots 
needs protecting as well as the top of the plants; indeed this 
shielding over the roots is all that many very tender things 
require. Some of the most disastrous winters have demon- 
strated this beyond question. 

Nature's own protection is leaves — leaves scattered on the 
ground where the roots get the benefit of them. Nature groups 
her vegetation too, so that one plant affords defense for its 




Thunberg's barberry; especially lovely in winter with its flaming red berries 




All the viburnums bear ornamental fruits, some 
red, some black, soine purplish 




The fat white berries of the snowberry are familiar to everyone ; a bush 
grew in all grandmothers' gardens 



Winter i3y 

neighbor. Large trees shelter smaller ones, and these in turn 
shelter lower growing shrubs — and creeping things wander in 
and out beneath these ; and all are snug and shaded and suitably 
protected, without a single straw jacket, or chicken- wire cage, o. 
barrel prison. Thus we see that it is first a matter of arrangement 

Roses are perhaps the most difficult things to deal with, in 
winter as well as in summer — that is, if one cares to have them 
attractively placed in the landscape. That they should grow in 
an enclosure set apart for them — a rose garden — I always insist. 
But even when so placed, they are ghostly and forlorn-looking 
when jacketed in straw. Locate the rose garden, in the first 
place, with the idea of its winter exposure in mind. See that 
this exposure is such that the roses are protected by some 
growth of shrubbery or evergreens^ — a hedge or a border — from 
the prevailing winds, if these are severe. 

Make the beds from two to four inches lower than the surface 
of the ground around them. This is a vast improvement, in 
summer as well as winter, over beds level with the walks, espe- 
cially if the walks themselves are grassed. The view across the 
rose-garden is not interrupted by bare and unattractive earth 
patches showing around the plants, if this method is followed; 
and when winter approaches, the bushes may be bent down, 
tied each to its neighbor's base, or to a stake, and the space 
around and above them filled until it is a little more than level 
with the general surface. 

Leaves of the oak are imsurpassed for this filling, but straw 
is perhaps easier to get, in most instances. With this a rougl 
thatch that will help in shedding water, should be formed; and 
over all some branches of evergreens or of any tree may be laid, 
to hold it from blowing away. This work should not be done 
however, until there has been a freeze which will have driven the 



138 The Landscape Gardening Book 

field-mice into winter quarters, else they may take up their 
abode among the straw and dine on the roses' winter buds, as 
field-mouse living goes up under the season's advance. 

Such a covering for roses is unobtrusive and inoffensive ; it 
does not suggest the dismal side of winter, and it is quite as 
effective as boarded-over shelters, providing the shelter belt of 
shrubs or evergreens is properly placed. Both, however, must 
be resorted to, to make the work assuredly well done. Usually 
branches of hemlock may be used to clothe almost anything 
requiring it, in such a way that the objectionable features 
attending the use of straw are entirely done away with, and a 
resemblance to a small evergreen tree is created. Where a 
shrub must be bound up, I should advise always using such 
material. 

Personally however, I should have iiothing in a garden which 
required elaborate winter cover. Some of the tenderest things 
are grown in chilly northern sections, with simply a suitable 
arrangement of windbreaks and shelter belts. A specimen of 
the giant tree of California has been raised from a tiny seedling 
until it has reached a height of probably forty feet, on a Long 
Island estate, by placing it in such a position that winter's fury 
is tempered by hardier native trees, which do guard duty on 
every side. These are not close to it, but they are so placed that 
what one fails to intercept in the way of winter wind, the next 
one catches — and the protection is very complete without in the 
least obscuring the Sequoia. 

A large garden should have provision for its tender plants — if 
its gardener insists upon growing them — in the form of pits and 
outside cellars. Whatever cannot be protected without calling 
attention to its infirmity, and thereby spreading an atmosphere 
of gloom over all the landscape that is within view, should be 




Uka. 



The graveyard effect which comes of using many tender plants and trying 

to make them comfortable during the winter detracts greatly from the 

pleasure of having a garden 




Christmas Roses bloom actually through the snow, and will sometimes 

show flowers from October to spring, without protection; this is the sort 

of thing worth while 




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Winter 139 

taken up and housed. Whatever may be protected by a mulch 
of leaves, or straw, or sod, or by branches of evergreen, or by 
twining herbaceous vines aroimd or above it, so that it is not a 
blot on the landscape, may, of course, remain. 

With this matter of protection met, through shelters that 
are not an offense to the eye, the question of introducing some- 
thing into the garden that will be a positive feature of winter 
beauty, should be considered. There are shrubs innumerable 
that have bright berries, and others with beautifully colored 
bark — and all shrubbery is decorative, when well placed, even 
out of leaf. Just the lacy mass of its bare branches against the 
snow is charming, or their warm color against the browns of 
vegetation generally, or against the deep tones of evergreens, 
when these form the backgroimd. 

Masses of cornel give ruddy warmth to the comer where they 
live; the black alder holds its bright red berries practically all 
winter; rugosa roses bear hips as large as French chestnuts that 
are a lovely, translucent scarlet-orange; the purple barberry is 
purple in branch, leaf and berry; the viburnums have fruits 
that are scarlet, blue-black, and pink-and-dull-blue ; while the 
old-fashioned snowberry and its twin, the Indian currant, are 
familiar to everyone, with the fat white berries of the first, 
bunched in odd sizes, offering a most attractive contrast to the 
coral of the latter. But more decorative than all other fruits, 
perhaps, are the berries of the corky euonymus, and its relatives 
of the spindle tree family. These are contained in a capsule, 
which bursts as the fruit ripens, rolling back to show the brighter 
colored, or differently colored seeds within. The capsule is 
usually a bright orange-scarlet ; the seed itself is black in one 
variety, a deeper, brighter red than the capsule in some others, 
and almost white in another. 



I40 The Landscape Gardening Book 

So it is not difficult to plan an all-the-year-round garden when 
planning, and cheat the winter. And in a climate where so 
many months are dull and colorless, if not actually wintry, this 
is something which ought never to be overlooked. It is, in fact, 
hardly too much to say that winter should have as much con- 
sideration in the arrangement of the garden as summer. 

Where frosts are likely to come late in the spring or early in 
the fall, a windbreak or shelter which is so dense that it does not 
allow the passage of air at all, tends to encourage them by 
keeping the air still within the space which it encloses. Still 
air IS, of course, favorable to frost. For this reason privet is 
better, in some situations, than a denser hedge which excludes 
all wind. It is a matter of tempering the wind, rather than 
shutting it out altogether. Privet, as I have already said, holds 
its leaves nearly all winter and grows so twiggy, through 
repeated prunings, that it forms an impenetrable barrier to 
animal life, and likewise to snow and biting winds. 

An evergreen winter garden, enclosed with a hedge so high 
that winter is shut out, is something which every all-the-year- 
round home should boast, for the encouragement which it will 
give to outdoor life. This may be somewhat apart from the 
subject under consideration, but I feel that it should be men- 
tioned, because we are dealing with winter in the garden. Where 
there is space to set apart such a spot, even though it is very tiny, 
it ought to be done. Surround the evergreen shelter hedge — 
which need not be trimmed, by the way, unless one prefers, but 
may grow unrestrained — on the outer side with a shelter planting 
of deciduous native trees, mingled with evergreens. Carry the 
"walls" of the garden north and south, so that all the sun's 
warmth may pour down unobstructed into it ; furnish it with 
some weatherproof rustic or white-painted, wood seats, or 



Winter 141 

benches, and a table — then get into the habit of loitering there 
an hour daily, during the sunniest time of day. 

All plants have a winter beauty quite as distinctly their own 
as the flowers which they bear in summer. Observation and 
study of them in winter alone will teach it — for it is brought out 
or obscured very often by the plant's situation and surroundings. 
In developing a garden, aim to find out what particular quality 
each plant depends on for this winter charm. Learn to look at 
winter landscapes as having something positive to offer — and 
to look at plants in winter undress as likewise having a positive 
beauty, and not the merely negative, dead-and-gone-to-seed 
aspect which long habit has made us associate with them. Then, 
having found this beauty, group and arrange the garden to bring 
it out to its best advantage. 

Generally speaking, a group that is pleasing in summer will 
not be bad in winter, though this may not follow if the work 
is highly artificial. The final test of garden and gardener, is 
the test of winter. Truly good work will be good in winter, 
with no unsightly winter armament guarding delicate interlopers, 
to disfigure the picture. For, when all is said and done, that is 
the last word in gardening, whether it is realistic or foiTnal; it 
builds a picture. Whether it is a picture that lies under a 
mantle of snow, or under the staid brown of autumn, or under 
the radiant green of young spring, should not matter; the 
picture quality must be there. If it is, no season can take it 
away. 

List of Plants 

shrubs for brilliant winter effect 
I — Rosa lucida (or R. humilis, liicida): wild rose; six feet high; 
showy clusters of crimson fruits on bright red stems, con- 



142 The Landscape Gardening Book 



spicuous from September on through February; single 
bright pink flowers in June and July. 
2 — Viburnum cassinoides: withered or Appalachian tea; six to 
eight feet high; upright growing, with brownish gray 
branches; bears dense clusters of berries that are pink, 
changing to deep blue, all gradations appearing at once, 
in one cluster; small white flowers in dense heads, in June 
and July. 
3 — Cornus stolonifera: red osier; eight feet high; spreading 
bush with bright crimson winter bark; bears abundantly 
white berries slightly tinged with blue ; small white flowers 
in dense showy heads, in June. 
4 — Berheris vulgaris: common barberry; eight to ten feet high; 
pendulous, sweeping branches, weighted along their length 
by clusters of vivid scarlet berries, persisting all winter; 
fragrant yellow flowers in early spring; one of the most 
attractive of the berry-bearing shrubs. 
5 — Viburnum dentatum: arrowwood; fifteen feet high; dense- 
growing, vigorQUS upright shrub with gray-stemmed 
branches, bending under a load of brilliant blue berries 
that last until hard freezing weather; quantities of tiny, 
faintly-sweet flowers, in close heads, in May and June. 
6 — Cornus candidissima: panicled cornel; fifteen feet high; up- 
right dense shrub with gray smooth branches; warm- white 
berries on red stems lasting through October; white flowers 
in profuse clusters in May and June. 
In grouping these in a border planting, the rose may be used 
for facing down before the others, its given height of six feet 
being its height at the middle, not at the outer edges. Its 
branches spread and arch enough to come well down to the 
ground. The barberry is also suitable for the same location. 



1 




Even without a design there is real beauty in neat borders for the walks and well 

trimmed hedge boundaries 




Within this old box-bordered area vegetables and flowers dwell in friendly inlinuKy 
the splendid stone wall closes the place in from the street, while the white fence 

divides garden and lawn 



CHAPTER XIV 
The Vegetable Garden Beautiful 

THE vegetable garden is very badly treated. Our attitude 
toward it is unfortunate, both for ourselves and for it — 
and there is no excuse for it. There is positively no 
reason for hiding it in out-of-the-way corners, or squeezing it 
into grudgingly yielded spaces, if really worthy care and thought 
are given it. If it began with a plan just as painstakingly worked 
out as that for a flower garden or a landscape we would have 
no reason for hiding it. 

Vegetable gardens are not usually attractive from an esthetic 
point of view, to be sure — ^but small wonder when we consider 
how shabbily these most useful of all gardens have been dealt 
with, for time out of mind. They have been given no chance to 
be beautiful, because everyone is thoroughly convinced that 
beauty and utility are hopelessly incompatible — in gardening 
anyway. Daily we hear more and more about beauty and 
utility being sister and brother — some are even putting forth 
the claim that they are twins — still no one ever seems to think of 
testing the truth of the assertion, outdoors, on and in the 
ground. 

Yet, if it is true at all, this is just as true outdoors as it is in; 
with plants and fruits as with furniture and fittings. In the old, 
old days, in the old world when gardening was carried on behind 

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144 The Landscape Gardening Book 

protective walls of massive stone, and only the monastery gardens 
escaped pillage and destruction under the incessant warfare of 
the times, flower gardens, as such, were unknown. Gardens 
were a vital necessity and not an ornamental luxury in thai 
stem age. They were stocked with those plants which furnished 
either food or medicine, with no room for aught else. But many 
of the latter were the flowering plants which are the isolated and 
pampered aristocrats of to-day's gardens; so after all the old- 
time utility did not mean the grim unloveliness which modem 
garden methods have led us to associate with the word. 

It is just a return to this ancient sincerity and simplicity that 
I would urge, in the development of our present-day gardening. 
This by no means implies approval of a potato patch adjacent 
to the entrance drive or cabbage under the living-room windows. 
It only implies a plea for a sane restoration of useful vegetation — 
and by useful I mean, in this instance, of practical, material 
use — to its rightful place and dignity. 

We are called a nation of suburban dwellers, yet there are 
thousands and thousands of suburban places in the land where 
a vegetable garden is never dreamed of, though much time is 
spent — and money too — in the care of flowers and lawns, and 
in "polite gardening." Students of economics have recently 
pointed out that the enormous waste which this system entails, 
is unquestionably one of the causes of the high cost of living, 
under which American shoulders are groaning. This seems 
more and more reasonable, the more it is considered. 

Eight plots, 50 X TOO feet, are, roughly speaking, equal to one 
acre of land. Reserving one-third of such a typical plot for the 
house, and one-third for lawn and as a concession to neighborhood 
conventionalities, there remains one-third for garden. Multiplied 
by eight this amounts to one-third of an acre; and one- third 



Vegetable Garden 145 

of an acre, under the intensive farming system, will produce 
all the vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, that a dozen 
people can eat in a year. We may consider, therefore, that for 
every eight suburban places, the vegetable food of twelve per- 
sons is sacrificed; all because of an artificial attitude which 
looks shamefacedly at a vegetable garden as something inele- 
gant and vulgar. Surely we are able to put all this affectation 
away, once it is realized, without great effort. Let us turn our 
backs on these old ideas and get at the problem of beautifying 
the Vegetable Garden, taking as much pains with it as we 
would with a Rose Garden, or a Garden of Old-time Perennials. 

To this end we must see first what its demands are — what the 
culture of vegetables absolutely requires — regardless of where 
they are planted, or what they are. Undisputed possession of 
well and constantly tilled soil is their one imperative need. 
That is, they must not be crowded by weeds, by other plants, 
nor by each other — though all vegetables really may be planted 
much closer together than the old-fashioned farmer commonly 
puts them. 

The chief obstacle therefore in the way of securing a pleasing 
effect where vegetables are grown, is the amount of brown earth 
necessarily exposed. In a flower garden, where masses are 
thrown together luxuriantly and individual specimens are not 
desired, the earth is covered; but this sort of treatment simply 
cannot be resorted to in raising vegetables. Neither is a ground 
cover, no matter how low growing it may be, permissible, for 
any plant other than the vegetable, will steal moisture and 
ood which should be its individual and tmdivided own. 

We have here nothing worse, however, than the identical 
problem which confronts the rose grower, for roses are quite as 
particular about their residence, and will brook no intrusion. 



146 The Landscape Gardening Book 

Yet the rose enthusiast is not balked by it. For want of the 
best solution, though, I am bound to say that the beauty of most 
rose gardens is very seriously impaired; for even with roses 
blooming all around, the eye instinctively longs for something 
more refreshing and pleasing than bare earth, beneath them. 
The one satisfactory solution for the rose garden is sunken beds 
with grass walks dividing them; and this is likewise the vege- 
table garden's redemption — this, and that beautiful order which 
is the first law of all things. A vegetable garden, to develop 
the highest beauty, must be perfect in its formality and balanced 
symmetry. 

Beds lowered four inches below the general level, with turf 
walks four feet wide, outlined with low flower borders for main 
divisions; and walks of a foot less width, similarly edged or not, 
for subdivisions, will produce an effect that no one who has not 
tried it, nor seen it tried, can conceive possible with such 
respected but socially uncultivated plants as beets, lettuce, 
radishes, salsify and the like. Plan such a garden on paper as 
carefully as any landscape, centering it on some division of the 
house if possible. If this is not practical let a walk leading to it 
be its axis, and plan from this. 

Make its form whatever the space permits ; it will not matter 
whether it is a square or a rectangle, if it is planned on an axis 
running either way. Do not over-elaborate the design nor 
introduce intricate forms in the beds — this is bad taste, whether 
flowers or vegetables are to fill them — and be careful to arrange 
so that the low-growing vegetables shall occupy the central 
positions, with the taller kinds at or near the garden boundaries. 
Perfect orderliness must guide the planting of every seed sown, 
and immaculate neatness must reign in the garden at planting 
and perpetually thereafter as it grows. 



Vegetable Garden 



H7 



The plan given is for an area of 50 x loo feet. The same 
amount of care that would keep a lawn this size, with flowers 
and shrubbery planted on it, in perfect order, will take care of 
such a garden as it shows. The vegetables for it would of course 







I 



Suggestion for the development of a vegetable garden enclosed with 
a lattice or fence. The paths are all of turf 

be selected according to the gardener's taste, and from it all that 
from four to six people could eat, with the exception of potatoes, 
would be harvested. 

While all of the above applies especially to gardening within 
a very limited space, the little effort required to design and lay 
out a vegetable garden on lines that shall please the eye and 
satisfy the ever-constant craving for beauty and charm, is well 
expended no matter how wide the domain. Indeed, I am not 
sure but the large place owes it to itself and to the world at 
large, to take especial pains in this direction. For it is to the 
large place, where money expenditure does not have to be 
reckoned so carefully, that all places look for an example and 
for inspiration. 

A vegetable garden once laid down on good lines, with garden 



148 The Landscape Gardening Book 

omamerts exposed here and there, at suitable spots — a dial with 
a rose clambering around its base, perhaps, or a fountain, 
or a bird pool to encourage the presence of the bird allies, so 
that they may be early and often on hand to devour the pernicious 
worm — may be as permanent as any formal flower garden. 
Rotation of crops is perfectly feasible within its limits, as well 
as the successive planting which prolongs the enjoyment of its 
products — and if it is enclosed, as I should strongly advise 
its being, fruit trees trained in the European fashion upon its 
walls, add just so much more to its advantages, as well as to its 
very real beauty. 

List of Plants 

Edging Plants 
Annuals will be better for edging the beds and the walks in 
the vegetable garden where the work is done by horse power. 
Perennials are likely to be trampled badly and the lines along 
which they are planted destroyed when plowing is done. Annuals, 
not being sown until after this is finished, are not in the way and 
consequently do not suffer. Perennials may be used where the 
wheel hoe or the spade and rake do all the work. 

PERENNIALS 

I — Armeria maritima, splendens: sea pink or thrift ; flower stems 
nine inches high; any soil; evergreen tufts of foliage 
on the ground; small pink flowers in dense heads, lifted 
above the leaves on wiry stems; blossoms continuously 
from early spring on ; may be raised from seed. 

2 — Iheris sempervirens : evergreen candytuft; twelve inches high; 
any soil ; may be raised from seed easily, sown where it is 
to grow, either in spring or early in the fall. 



1 



Vegetable Garden 149 

ANNUALS 

I — Alyssum maritimum, "Little Gem": mad- wort or sweet a»lys- 
sum; four inches high; any soil; sheets of white flowers 
throughout the summer, fragrant ; sow early where it is to 
grow. 

2 — Ageratum, "Princess Pauline": floss flower; eight inches high; 
any soil ; compact growth, bright blue flowers ; start indoors 
and transplant or sow outside in May ; blossoms from early 
summer on. 

An edging of turf eight to ten inches wide should always 
inclose the walks unless they are entirely of turf, whether a flower 
edging is used for the beds also or not. Back of this turf and 
at an even distance from it set the edging plants or sow the 
seed for them, in a carefully drawn furrow. Then draw an 
exact line twelve inches back of this furrow or the line of the 
plants, and bring the vegetables, in straight and carefully laid 
out rows, just to this. If a taller plant is desired along the 
walk it will be necessary to allow greater space for it on the 
ground. A border of sweet Williams, for instance, will require 
eighteen inches in width between turf edge and vegetable line ; 
a border of day lilies will need twenty-four inches or more, 
and so on. 



I 



CHAPTER XV 

Garden Structures 

ALL the great gardens of the world have countless loitering 
^ places — some indeed fairly palatial in themselves, 
though only garden incidents — and all little gardens 
may usually, and certainly should if possible, have at least one. 
I know of no better and surer emancipation from the artificial 
than that which comes from much lingering in a garden. 

But it is out of doors and away from doors, out in the garden 
that we must go, if we would company with the sweet garden 
spirits. They that dwell unseen among blossoms and leaf and 
branch and ride swift and far on the free winds, are not to be 
enticed onto porches — nor yet even up to a terrace. Only quite 
away from the rigid walls of man's daily habitation will They of 
gardens linger — away, and truly in the garden. 

How many, many gardens are wasted ! How many gardens are 
planned and planted and carefully tended — ^but never lived in 
by anyone. Indeed the commoner practice with gardens ranks 
with the old fashion of " using ' ' the best room. Carefully shut 
up and darkened, with all its treasures in immaculate order, it 
may have been a source of complacent satisfaction; but surely 
it was never anything else. 

A garden house, whatever name we call it — some call it a 
gazebo, some a casino, still others a belvedere, a loggia, a bower, 

(150) 



I 




r-'^-'t^^t'^ 




Here there is absolutely nuthing left to be desired; a retreat at a distance from the 
dwelling should afford actual protection from the elements or else be just an arbor 




Such a seat fulfils the purpose of a semicircular seat but is simpler in construction; 
the overhead work is just right 



Garden Structures 151 

just a plain summer house, or even a pergola or an arbor, though 
these latter two apply only to roofless structures — a garden 
house provides that definite livableness to the garden, which is 
needed to encourage living in it. Assuring protection from the 
elements, it invites repose ; yet, being open and vine-draped and 
sylvan, it loses nothing of outdoor redolence in doing so. It 
remains still a temple of Pan. 

If such a retreat is never to be used however, it ought never to 
be built. For of all the dismal things anyi;vhere in the world, 
the deserted, dejected, down-at-the-heels garden house is surely 
the most dismal! It wears the look and the air that a pass^ 
beauty might wear, in the gray dawn, the morning after a ball. 
One shivers at the stamp of desolation so emphasized by con- 
trast with what once was. 

A garden house is a reasonable project whenever it is able, and 
only when it is able, to fulfil the purpose for which it is built. 
This purpose is to provide an outdoor sitting-room sufficiently 
secluded to invite occupation and to insure its intimate enjoy- 
ment ; a room apart from, and far enough distant from, the dwell- 
ing to afford a complete change and relaxation. 

Obviously the circumstances of every garden are the factors 
which will determine independently the opportvmity for a stmi- 
mer house in that particular garden. Most places afford a 
situation that fits, or may be made to fit, the requirements, 
but there are many of course that do not. Where the limita- 
tions do exclude such a structure, give it up absolutely. It is 
worse than useless when it is crowded in ; it is absurd. 

This is a simple matter, however — this deciding whether or 
no it is a reasonable, and therefore a permissible, member 
within the limits of a certain garden. But the choice of the sort 
of a structure to build does not seem to be so simple, if the 



I 



152 The Landscape Gardening Book 

mistakes not infrequently made by those who ought to know 
better, are anything to judge by. It is a lamentable fact that 
there is an amazing lack of comprehension of true fitness dis- 
played in many pretentious gardens. And until it is the rule 
for us to think first and think intelHgently, I am afraid that such 
errors will go on being made. 

The pergola madness results from one of them. Who the 
man was that perpetrated it in the first place, no one knows ; but 
over the length and breadth of the land it has spread — and the 
end is not yet. Jacobean mansions, English half-timbered cot- 
tages, Swiss chalets, French chateaus, and our own comfortable 
Colonial manor houses alike display, with astounding impartial- 
ity, a riot of (alleged) Italian pergolas, at front or back or sides, 
or maybe all four and again in the garden ; to say nothing of the 
nondescript dwellings of the nondescript class which have added 
or been added to, a pergola. 

Nothing in architecture has caught the popular fancy to such 
a degree since the deluge of " Queen Anne" style which engulfed 
the builders of a generation ago. And just as the good and 
charming Queen Anne domestic architecture became sponsor 
in those days for dreadful monstrosities, little and big, so the 
lovely pergola of Italy is to-day responsible for endless absurdities. 

Perhaps if the foreign word were dropped and the literal 
translation substituted, it would be possible to consider these 
structures in a more rational manner. "Pergola" is literally 
" arbor, " " pergula, ' ' from which it is derived, being " vine arbor. " 
Here surely we gain a better sense of relation — and proportion. 
The English equivalent, being honest, is more conducive to 
honesty — for who would build an " arbor ' ' in place of a roof, over 
a porch? Yet many have put "pergolas" there; and as a 
crowning absurdity we hear therefore of the "pergola roof." 



Garden Structures 



153 



Pergolas have no roof other than the leafiness of the vines 
that overrun them. And even the cross-pieces that uphold 
these vines — those members which are familiar to us as rather 
heavy rafters, sometimes elaborately shaped at their overhanging 
ends — are more or less temporary and fragile things. 

Nowhere probably is there a truer example of the pergola in 
its honest simplicity, than in the gardens of the old Capuchin 
monastery at Amalfi. Along the mountain side these arbors 
ranged, tier after tier, in the old monkish days — true vine arbors 
and nothing else. Approaching the monastery buildings the 
upright supports became architectural, and a part of the retain- 
ing wall which runs along the steepest part of the slope; but the 
long, thin sapHngs forming the overhead framework remained 
the same. 

Thus the sense of permanence and stability prevails in the 
upright work, while overhead repairs may easily be made. The 
stone columns are hollowed transversely at the top, to receive 
the saplings, which are simply laid across from side to side. 
Now there is a wretched little railing running from column to 
column, to keep the hotel's guests from tumbling off and down 
the mountain side, but this is a latter-day "improvement." 
The monks grew flowers in this space. It is worth noting, by 
the way, that the vines are, in some places, planted inside the 
columns. 

So the good old monks built just as good sense would prompt 
anyone to build. Their "pergolas" are simply permanent, 
convenient, and easily repaired grape arbors carried along the- 
hillside — architectural only where they approach the dwelling. 
Elsewhere they are of the crudest, though at the same time 
most picturesque, construction, easily managed and made of the 
most primitive materials. With their outspread vines they 



154 The Landscape Gardening Book 

furnished a grateful shade to the keepers of the vineyard, who 
must labor there under the hot Italian sun ; and they afforded the 
best possible means of training the vines, for best results. 

When the pergola mania seizes a victim, let him stop long 
enough to ask himself two questions. The first one is: If it 
were an arbor that thus possessed my mind, would I wish to 
build it? The second is: Shall it be — or is it possible for it to 
be — an immediate attribute of the house? 

If the first question meet with an affirmative answer and the 
second a negative, then an architectural treatment will not be 
the best and most appropriate. Remember that the Capuchins* 
arbors are architectural only as they lead off from the pile of the 
buildings. It is not, however, that architectural treatment 
should be applied only to a structure that is an attribute of the 
house — that is by no means so. But architectural treatment of 
an arbor — of a roofless, simple, vine support — is appropriate 
only when this is the case. 

It is not, either, that we should imitate the Capuchins; but 
they have done what they have done the very best that may be. 
When the best has been done, when simple, straightforward 
reasons have been the guide and a beautiful result has been 
attained, anything that goes against the principle thus estab- 
lished will be lacking in merit and lacking in artistic effect. 

So much for the pergola — for the arbor, to think of it as we 
should. Words — and we — are such deceivers; we should be 
careful how we use them. 

A loggia is architectural, indeed is fairly monumental — yet 
a loggia may be built with perfect propriety in any part of a 
garden. For a loggia is primarily an outdoor, roofed, sitting- 
room, usually enclosed on one long side, and open on the other 
and on the ends. Often, though not necessarily, it is a part of 




Nowhere is there as good an example of the true pergola as the Capuchin Monas- 
tery at Amalfi shows; remote from the buildincjs it is of most primitive construction 




Reproduced, by permission, jrotn "Architecture" 

Adjacent to the buildings, architectural columns take the place of the sapling supports 
but overhead the vines rest on precisely the same support in one place as in another 



Garden Structures 



155 



the house, and is indeed practically a porch that is not used for 
entrance. In many of the old Italian palaces it is on the second 
floor; but it may furnish a garden boundary, and it is placed 
with delightful effect opposite the dwelling sometimes, across 
a formal garden. Any favorite spot in the grounds indeed may 
be chosen for its site. Being an architectural structure it should 
of course conform to the style of the buildings on a place, and 
be as elaborate and pretentious, or as simple, as these. 

A belvedere is a garden building occupying a lofty position, 
built there especially to command a fine view. Only a structure 
so located is entitled to the name. A gazebo is also high up, 
occupying a position chosen for outlook ; but a gazebo is usually 
part of a garden wall, partaking of the character of a watch 
tower. It is intended more as a place from which to look over 
and outside the walls, rather than to command a broad and 
stately sweep of landscape. 

These therefore require certain surroundings and presuppose 
certain elements in the garden where they are built. But a 
casino or a bower — I must confess a liking for the latter old, 
deep-rooted Anglo-Saxon word — is just a summer pleasure 
house. It alone therefore gives us something definitely suited 
to all sorts and conditions of gardens. 

Constructed of any building materials that may be preferred, 
it may follow the lines of the house or not. The only restraint 
put upon its designer is the restraint of good taste — and good 
taste only means after all , appropriateness. Perhaps the meaning 
of this may be clearer if it is explained that a little round or 
octagonal structure, built of birch trunks and branches, with a 
shingled roof stained to match the house, set out on a trim lawn 
at a distance of thirty feet possibly but not more than that from 
the house, with never a trace of vines nor shrubs nor trees around 



156 The Landscape Gardening Book 

it, is as complete an example of bad taste and inappropriateness 
as I believe it would be possible to find. Yet this sort of thing 
is not uncommon — with perhaps some monstrous unusable and 
immovable chairs, made of the same raw forest product, standing 
grimly at either side. 

"Rustic work" is only suitable to the most primitive sur- 
roundings. It is as out of place on a smooth-shaven lawn as a 
shooting- jacket would be at a formal dinner. Such a building 
belongs in the woods, if it belongs anywhere — I am not sure that 
it does belong anywhere — and its roof should be of split boughs 
or sheets of bark, never of tiles or shingles. 

A simple building, well proportioned, with a deep shadowing 
cornice and a roof of not too steep a pitch, is always satisfactory 
anywhere. If this roof, made with a steeper pitch, is of rush 
or straw thatch, the charm of the structure is assured regardless. 
I am tempted to say, of design and proportion. Of course this 
is not altogether so; but clematis and honeysuckle and akebia 
will soon hide defects of design, leaving the picturesque roof 
alone in view. Such a structure takes its place in the midst of 
greenery as if it, too, had grown from the earth. It suits any 
kind of house and grounds, great or small, and is preeminently 
the sort of thing to use with the free lines of landscape or abso- 
lutely informal gardening. 

Luxuriant planting should back up any garden house, on one 
side or another. It may hide it indeed from everywhere, yet 
leave vistas from it to any charming bits of planting, natural 
or artificial. Or the structure may be a part of the garden 
design and as such occupy a position of comparative prominence ; 
but even here it should be planted in and well clothed with ver- 
dure as well as backed and framed by it. 



CHAPTER XVI 
Garden Furniture and Accessories 

THE garden which is too small to permit the building of a 
bower within its boiindaries may yet have a garden seat, 
or several resting places. No garden is too tiny for this. 
Let us therefore examine the possibilities of garden benches first 
of all. 

They must be comfortable to sit on, primarily, and com- 
fortably placed. This does not mean always in shade however, 
for there are many days when to sit in the sun is greater delight. 
But they should be located where the most charming bits are 
most easily seen and enjoyed by their occupants. Make a 
point too, of having something fragrant growing close by — 
mint under foot or some sweet herb, or a sweetbriar rose near 
at hand — something that smells sweet perpetually. Fragrance 
is one of the garden's essentials, everywhere. 

The classic exedra is of all forms the best for a garden seat. 
This is curving its entire length, usually indeed a semicircle, 
thus bringing its occupants together equally or nearly so. 
Executed in stone or marble it had an important place in the 
gardens of antiquity, and executed in stone, marble, terra-cotta 
or wood it is worthy an equally important place in gardens 
to-day. Its size may vary according to existing circumstances. 
Usually it has a back, sometimes high but not always. Thus it 

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158 The Landscape Gardening Book 

is not only a comfortable seat for a group, in that it brings them 
together, but a restful and comfortable seat for the individual. 

It is not at all likely that the charming, old, curved, white- 
painted seats which some old gardens harbor, were consciously 
modeled on this stone conversation bench of the Greeks, but 
the same need furnished the idea for their form. The same 
gregarious instinct prompted their making. And such a seat 
offers naturally the suggestion and the place for a round garden 
table, with all the sociable delights which it brings. 

The two together need take up very little room. A seat 
that is a complete semicircle, large enough to seat six persons 
easily, with its roimd table placed on the center from which its 
curve is drawn, will only require eleven by seven feet. This 
style of seat may be cut in half, if only half the size is desired, 
or a semicircle constructed with a shorter radius. A radius 
of less than thirty inches, however, is not practicable, as it does 
not allow sufficient space in front of the sitters. Usually a 
radius of four feet is the best for a bench to seat any number 
up to six. This gives a pleasing and sufficient curve to even 
a very short seat, cut off at the quarter circle or less and 
accommodating only two or three. 

The radius for any desired size of bench is very easily deter- 
mined. Allow two feet along the inner circumference of the 
seat for each person to be accommodated. This will be the meas- 
ure of half the circumference of a circle. One- third of this will 
therefore be the radius required to swing that circle; for the 
diameter is one-third the circumference and the radius one-half 
the diameter, or one-sixth of the circumference. 

For example, the number of persons to be seated is six: two 
feet to a person makes twelve feet, which must be the length of the 
inner edge of the semicircle, which is half of the circumference. 



Accessories 



159 



One- third of this, or four feet, is the radius of the inner edge; this 
is increased sixteen or eighteen inches according to the width 
of seat desired, to give the line of the outer edge or back of the 
bench. The table may be any size up to four feet across, and 
allow ample room between it and the bench. It should always 
stand on the center, and the ends of the bench should always 
be cut on a line drawn from the center. 

Using this same circle and cutting it down so that only four 
people may occupy the seat, it is possible to use only seven by 
seven feet, with the table. Without the table a seat this size 
could be put anywhere that any ordinary straight seat would go. 

Next to seats — which simply must not be omitted from any 
garden — I rank sun-dials. These too ought never to be omitted, 
and certainly of all garden furnishings they are, in one way, 
the most important. It is not because they are of less conse- 
quence than the garden seat but because they are less likely to 
keep us out-of doors and in the garden that I have spoken of the 
latter first. 

There is a mystery of eternity in a sun-dial, and I will venture 
to say that no one who has dipped ever so little into dial lore, 
or thought of dials at all, has missed the realization of it. To 
me, however, it is not so much in the quaint old mottoes that 
adorn the dial face and admonish the observer, nor in all the 
beautiful lore that surrounds dials, as it is in the dial's constant 
intimacy and familiarity with the swinging spheres in space. 
It brings an enfolding sense of the oneness of all things in the 
great march through eternity. 

For this reason perhaps I have no patience with the gloomy 
dial mottoes, with the lugubrious warnings that thunder them- 
selves at unsuspecting persons who come to this, which has been 
so l:»eautifully called the "garden altar," to mark the shadows 



i6o The Landscape Gardening Book 

passing. They belong to the dark ages when men governed 
themselves through their fears, when virtue lay in gloom, and 
when the fairest hours must always have some dismal thought 
to temper them, lest anyone by some mischance should be 
completely filled with joy. 

How much better and finer is the thought in this old Latin 
motto : ' 'Let the mind know no twilight. " Or in this other, which 
furnishes a motto for right living, " I count the bright hours 
only. " The same idea is in the charming couplet: 

" The hours unless the hours are bright it is not mine to mark ; 
I am the prophet of the light, dumb when the sun is dark. " 

And how happy and sunny is "Amidst ye floweres I tell ye 
houres. " What a sense of duty well and contentedly performed. 

The location of a dial should be worthy of it as an "altar." 
Indeed the garden may well develop around it, or to it, as its 
crowning achievement. A delightful position for it is on the 
center of a curving seat, in place of the table suggested. This 
means that the seat will be in the sun, for of course the dial must 
be. But trees back of the seat may give it partial shelter, and 
a combination of a seat with the dial ought always to be made. 
Put another seat somewhere else, for shade; a seat by a sun-dial, 
to use in the moonlight, is worth sacrificing shade and a good 
many other things, to have. 

Its setting is a thing to be determined by circumstances in a 
measure, though I do not feel that any really crude device for 
upholding it can ever be very effective. A thick tree trunk 
cut at the convenient height may not be unattractive when 
clothed with ivy, but a huge stone or boulder seems far better, 
if a natural pedestal is desired. The stone has a sort of Druid 
dignity which the rough wood lacks. It ought never to be low 





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Two simple white wooden seats that invite to idling; out-of-doors 
ought to be liberally furnished with such as these 




Following the same lines a single seat of the semicircular type occupies 
another focussing point in the same garden 



Accessories i6i 

as some that I have seen however, certainly never lower than the 
height of a tea table. 

The simpler the pedestal the better, ordinarily. A straight 
turned column with plinth base and simple square cap, a square 
and unornamented shaft of concrete drawn in at the top ever so 
little, or a quadrangular column tapering towards the base, 
patterned after the ancient hermae of the Greeks, are each of 
them good. A low-growing vine may be planted at the foot of 
the pedestal, but nothing should ever be allowed to grow up 
and around it and obscure it completely. Neither should any- 
thing ever grow about its base thickly enough to prevent close 
approach to it. Fragrance here is most fitting, however — 
dense mats of thyme, mint or pennyroyal, or a sweetbriar, 
kept within boimds. 

A little bit of water somewhere for the birds is my third 
essential, for Httle gardens or for big. Where a pool in the 
ground is out of the question, some kind of small bathing pool 
for them is still possible. A large boulder, hollowed into a basin 
deeper at one end than at the other — for tiny birds as well as 
for the bigger fellows — is the simplest and in some places the 
most easily provided; and a pailful of water poured into it 
daily, though a primitive method of supplying it, is quite as 
good as any other. This daily agitation keeps out the "wrig- 
glers ' ' too, and insures freedom from mosquitoes, as far as their 
breeding there is concerned. 

An earth pool which may be stocked with goldfish and sub- 
aquatics does not require elaborate construction, for it may be 
filled with the lawn hose if it lowers during dry seasons. The 
plants and the sunlight will keep it as sweet and as fresh as an 
aquarium indoors. 

Fountains are a delight in hot weather, but, unless of very 



1 62 The Landscape Gardening Book 

excellent design, they are dismal things in winter, minus the 
water. So unless they can be very well done, they are better 
omitted altogether. 

Bees are not furniture exactly, but they belong in every 
garden where flowers grow. Fruits will be scarce on many a bush 
without bee visits, and vegetables too, within the kitchen garden. 
They are a little trouble at swarming time perhaps, but well 
worth it in the practical advantage of having them, to say 
nothing of the delight they are to watch and study and ponder 
over. 

The possibilities of the lattice are innumerable and cannot 
more than be mentioned in a general way. For divisions in the 
garden, for blotting out disfiguring objects where there is not 
space to plant them out, and for insuring the privacy of tiny 
gardens, there is nothing equal to a lattice. High board fences 
that are an eyesore take on real beauty when stained a dark rich 
green or brown, and topped by a white painted lattice, half their 
height or thereabouts. And lattices fixed against a building are 
in themselves most decorative, as I have already pointed out in 
a previous chapter. 

Finally we come to statuary, and here is one thing to be very 
careful about. A statue has no excuse for being unless it is 
excellent in conception — unless it carries some big meaning. 
Abominations in the shape of deer and hotmds and other 
" realistic " animals, which found their way somehow into some 
grounds awhile back, are not likely to break into any garden of 
to-day, I trust. But meaningless groups are almost as bad 
as these were. 

We do seem to be somewhat at a disadvantage in the matter 
of subjects, to be sure, when we compare our resources with 
the rich mythology of the ancients, inspiring as it did so many 



Accessories 163 

beautiful pieces of sculpture. But after all, is this so? We 
have not their many pagan gods to model, but what about the 
eternal verities for which they stood? These, each and every 
race must always have, and must always go on representing, 
each in their own way. 

Keep to these in garden images rather than admit the feebly 
pictorial. Even a mediocre faun, representing the spirit of 
woods and dells and all out-of-doors, is better than a most 
excellently executed girl tying her sandal, or boy with a sliver 
in his foot. A statue is a permanent thing and should repre- 
sent a truth, not an incident. Make this the test, outdoors 
at least : I find it a very satisfactory one for all places. 



CHAPTER XVII 
Planting and General Care 

THE best time of year for general planting, according to my 
experience, is autumn. Everyone may not have found 
it so — many have not, I know — ^but that does not alter 
the fact that I have And it seems to me perfectly logical that 
it should be the best time, except for certain special things. 

Plants stir in the spring long before they wake, precisely like 
a sleeper in a snug bed, conscious of a summons yet not quite 
able to grasp its meaning. Through all their tender roots the 
life force thrills first ; then, little by little, it mounts imtil we 
one day see the signs and say the " sap is running — soon the buds 
will burst" — and spring is here! 

This waking-up time is a time of aboimding vigor and, if it 
were not for things outside the plant itself, the period just pre- 
ceding it would unquestionably be an ideal time for moving a 
plant into new quarters. But spring weather conditions are the 
most imcertain of uncertainties — and herein the danger lies. 

Lifting a plant from the place where it has been growing 
deprives it of countless numbers of its fine feeding roots ; there- 
fore it shuts off a portion of its food supply. New roots form 
rapidly to take the place of those lost, when the ground is not 
waterlogged, and when it keeps at an even temperature. In the 
spring, however, the ground is more than likely to be water- 

(164) 



Cultural Suggestions 165 

logged, and it cannot keep anything like an even temperature, 
with a bHzzard one day, a thunder storm the next, and sun only 
half shining when it does shine — or else blazing forth like mid- 
summer for a few hours. 

So everything is unfavorable for a month or so, if early plant- 
ing is made, to a plant's establishing itself — that is, to its making 
new roots to take hold upon its new home. And if planting is 
delayed until late spx-ing, sudden scorching heat may come and 
burn things up before the new roots have reached sufficient 
development to supply the needs of the fast-growing leaves. 

In the autumn, however, things are getting ready to goto 
sleep anyway. Activity is quieting down. The next year's 
buds are formed and tucked away, under the leaf stalks perhaps, 
or wherever they belong, and the season's growth is ripening 
from green succulence into tough wood. And the ground is 
warm from the summer — warm away down deep, and mellow. 
This is just the condition most favorable to the growth of new 
roots, and plants transplanted at this season are in a state to 
give all their energies to root growth. There is no call upon 
them from above 

The best time therefore to transplant is about a month before 
they are actually asleep — or dormant — and that varies, of course, 
with different latitudes. A month of activity gives them time 
to take hold and then they fall asleep, to wake up in the spring 
ready to go at their work without a setback. 

Of course it is not always easy nor possible to time transplant- 
ing with such nicety as this, and it is not indeed necessary. 
This is simply the ideal which the planter has in mind. Trees 
and shrubs may usually be moved with success at any time when 
the ground will allow planting, during the dormant season. 
Large deciduous trees are generally moved in the late autumn. 



i66 The Landscape Gardening Book 

but evergreens recover from the operation best when it is done 
in August or early September. 

The pruning of deciduous trees at the time of planting is 
governed entirely by the necessity for keeping the balance 
between root and branch, with the advantage on the root side, 
if on either. If one-third of the root system is lost or injured 
in taking a plant from the ground, one-third of its top must 
be sacrificed when it is put back. Ordinarily all limbs and 
branches may be shortened equally, but on trees like the Lom- 
bardy poplar, the single definite "leader" should not be cut. 
This carries the tree up into its characteristic spire-like form, 
and any interference with it will impair the growth sufficiently 
to be a detriment to that form, in all likeHhood. Shorten the 
branches only, on such a tree. 

All roots that are broken or wounded must be removed with 
a sharp, even cut, before replanting. All top pruning should 
of course be done while the tree is lying on the ground and the 
top within easy reach. Cut just above a bud always — prefer- 
ably a bud turning away from the bole of the tree, which is 
called an outside bud — and cut on a downward slant so that 
the raw end may shed water readily. 

In removing an entire branch from a tree, at any time and for 
any purpose, always cut as close as possible to the branch or 
trunk from which the branch to be removed rises; and always 
cut parallel with that branch or trunk. Never take off a branch 
by cutting across its axis at right angles to it, and at some 
distance from the trunk, as so often is done. This leaves a stub 
over which the bark cannot possibly grow and it will ultimately 
die and carry decay to the heart of the tree. The close, parallel 
cut, on the contrary, heals completely, for the bark has only to 
draw together and cover the flat surface of the wound. 



Cultural Suggestions 167 

The planting of evergreens is always a more hazardous under- 
taking than the planting of deciduous trees, for the reason that 
the foliage of evergreens transpires constantly. This means that 
it is constantly demanding moisture from the earth, through 
the tree's network of fibrous roots; and consequently any injury 
to these roots or any drying out of them is a death-dealing 
catastrophe. 

This is why evergreens are always shipped from nurseries with 
an earth root-ball, carefully wrapped and sewed up in burlap. 
Their roots must never be uncovered, even for a minute, during 
the whole process of digging up, moving and setting out again. 

Obviously needle-leaved evergreens cannot be pruned without 
destroying their form, therefore every bit of root must be guarded 
carefully, for it means Hfe itself to them. There can be no 
cutting away at tops to make up for loss at roots. Broad- 
leaved evergreens however, such as holly, may be stripped of 
their leaves at planting. This brings about the balance by 
reducing the leaf action until new root growth is made, just as 
cutting back does for a deciduous tree. 

Some broad-leaved evergreens, however — such as rhododen- 
drons and their family — have their own special predilections too 
numerous to enter into in a general planting talk. These, by 
the way, are among the things best planted in the spring accord- 
ing to the consensus of expert opinion. 

All shrubs and trees, whether evergreen or deciduous, must 
have an excavation the full diameter of their root-spread made 
to receive them. It should be deep enough to bring the tree 
down into the ground as far as the earth mark on its bole above 
the roots shows it to have been before ; and all the roots should be 
laid carefully in place by hand, allowing them to take the posi- 
tion and directions which they seem naturally to wish to assume. 



i68 The Landscape Gardening Book 

In other words every plant should go into the ground exactly as 
it grows — exactly as it came out of it, as nearly as is possible. 
A long round stick — a broom handle, top down, is ideal — 
should be used to tap the loose earth down among, and under, 
and aroimd all the fine roots, as it is thrown onto them, after 
placing the specimen. It should be closely packed around every 
rootlet, so they may begin drawing their moisture-food from it at 
once. This does not mean, however, that it requires beating 
down to stony hardness. 

A little water in the bottom of the excavation at the beginning 
is very good, but guard against using too much, as it is likely to 
cake mud around the small roots and strangle them. Pour on 
half a pailful of water when the hole is partly filled in and let it 
settle completely into the ground before finishing the work. 
This may take some little time, but give it as long as necessary. 
It works the earth against the roots as no amount of tamping 
can — and when it has finally disappeared and the rest of the loose 
dirt is thrown in and firmed by tramping, you may feel sure that 
every root is pretty comfortably fixed. 

Mulching is essential for all autumn-planted things, and herein 
lies the secret of failure when autumn planting fails, invariably. 
The heavy winter mulch must never be applied until the ground 
has frozen; and then it must be applied at once, six to ten inches 
deep. The object of it is to hold the cold in by holding the 
warmth out, and save the killing alternation of frost and thaw. 
Remove it in the spring when danger of deep freezing is past. 

Pruning of trees other than the shortening done at planting 
time, should be done just as the sap starts in the spring. With 
flowering shrubs it is usually better to wait until just after they 
have finished flowering, for many bear their blossoms on wood 
of the previous season's growth. If this were cut away all the 



Cultural Suggestions 169 

I loom of the year would go with it. By waiting until the blos- 
soming period is over, however, one is sure of being on the safe 
side. 

The formation of a lawn is so largely a matter of good pure 
lawn seed, and keeping out the weeds, that it does not seem 
necessary to say much about it here. Special mixtures of seed 
for various places, combined to meet special conditions, are pre- 
pared by the best seedsmen and are usually what they claim to 
be. A goodly proportion of white clover is, to my mind, always 
desirable, for the tiny blossoms, strewn star-Hke in the green, 
are lovely, and its leaf form gives a depth and quality of color 
to a lawn that is unrivalled. 

Ground must be carefully prepared and should be of as even 
a texture and quality as possible. This is much more important 
than that it should be rich. Any soil will grow grass if the right 
kind of seed is chosen, and it is really better if not extremely rich. 
Strong sure growth rather than quick and luxuriant growth, is 
the aim in building up a lawn. Sow the seed any time in the 
spring up to about the tenth of May. Later sowings than this 
are likely to burn away, if they ever come up at all. It is well, 
on a newly made lawn, to sow again lightly between the first 
and middle of September, which gives an opportunity for good 
growth before winter comes, and fills out bare spots. 

Weeds may always be expected in a newly made lawn. They 
simply must be fought, tooth and nail, until a strong stand of 
^rass is established. Weed seeds are said to lie dormant down 

o 

in the earth for years ; and it certainly seems as if they did lurk 
around and wait the opportunity to spoil things. The opera- 
tions of grading and working the soil of course bring them up to 
the surface where they can germinate. 

Some of the most troublesome weeds, however, are fortunately 



lyo The Landscape Gardening Book 

annuals ; if they are not allowed to go to seed, the task of getting 
rid of them is therefore greatly reduced. But everything that 
it is possible to get hold of should be pulled up by the roots as 
well — crab grass and caterpillar grass will come out beautifully 
after a rain, in great thick mats — for many times these unde- 
sirables spread from the roots as well as from their seeds above 
ground. And some go so far as to take root at the nodes of 
every branch, too ; crab grass is one of these. 

Do not fertilize with manure if you hope ever to get rid of 
weeds. I have known many lawns to be ruined by one winter 
mulch. Rag weed and plantain are two of the most persistent 
of lawn enemies, and seeds of both are present by the million 
in stable manure. They germinate in a twinkling and crowd 
everything else off the field with the advent of spring. 

Watering the lawn, and plants generally, is a problem that 
sometimes gives the planter much concern, if he has not had 
much experience. Ordinarily it is folly to tmdertake hand 
watering — or hose watering either, for that matter — for it is so 
nearly a complete failure, as far as actually giving the plants 
any help is concerned, that it cannot pass as even a fraction of 
a success. Plants need water where a hose can never put it — 
down at their fine and hair-like feeding roots. A deluge above 
ground is of no use to them except as it sinks in and reaches these 
roots. 

It seems at first thought that enough water poured on top of 
the groimd, must sink down to them; but as a matter of fact it 
sinks in but a very little bit before it is absorbed, by capillary 
force, through the top soil, spreading out mushroom fashion 
instead of going down. The grass roots around a tree get the 
benefit, not the tree; weeds get the benefit not the deep-rooted 
things that are worth while. 



Cultural Suggestions 171 

When it rains all over the ground, this spread out absorption 
is of course not possible. The surface being wet all over, water 
must go down — which makes the difference between real rain 
and the make-believe rain sprayed from the end of a hose. Give 
up the thought of watering anything — unless it may be some 
especial thing that according to its cultural directions does 
require watering, and turn attention to tilling. This is the great 
conserver of moisture. The garden that is well tilled will never 
suffer during any ordinary drought. 

It is as old as the everlasting hills, that phrase "tilling the 
soil, ' ' yet it is only lately that there has been a general reawaken- 
ing to the great importance of the operation thus expressed. 
Thorough tillage means ground surface always loosened. This 
provides a little blanket of earth through which the sun cannot 
draw the precious water back up again, after the earth has drunk 
its fill, and the rain has ceased, and he has come out to lord it 
over everything once more. For that is what happens ; the rain 
comes down and the parched earth takes it in like a sponge, 
and it sinks down deeper and deeper, as long as it goes on raining. 
After weeks of rain the ground is wet to a great depth. 

As soon as the rain is over, however, and the sun begins to 
shine, the contrary movement of the moisture at once begins. 
First that at the top moves up and off into the atmosphere, 
under the sun's vital pull; then that that is lower down feels the 
force, and so on imtil every bit of moisture from the deepest 
part has traveled back up to the surface and off again — every 
bit that is, that has not run away in springs and streams to the 
rivers and the sea. 

The only thing in the world that will stop this upward move- 
ment is tillage. Tillage does it because it moves the upper 
particles of earth so far apart that capillary attraction cannot 



172 The Landscape Gardening Book 

act and consequently when these loose particles are themselves 
pumped dry, the moisture below is protected by them. It is a 
very pretty little process — one among a thousand others so inter- 
esting and wonderful, when one stops to examine them, that the 
greatest wonder is the little comment they provoke. 

Garden pests I am not going to talk about. They are too 
speciaUzed to have any place here — and space is limited. But 
I believe they will never prove as bad as apprehension paints 
them, if they are dealt with in the right way. Each state has 
its agricultural station where they will tell an inquirer very 
freely and fully just what to do for the special bug that is 
a-ravaging. The shrubs and trees included in the lists recom- 
mended are all exceptionally free from such enemies and will 
withstand attack, should it be made, better than many others. 

Aphids I am tempted to give a paragraph, however — I 
abominate them so myself — and they are so common. They are 
the odious little things, soft-bodied, sometimes winged and 
sometimes not, which appear by the tens of thousands, over 
night, on almost any plant they may take a notion to. Some 
are tiny, some are giants, and some are middle size — that is, 
as aphids. And all sizes hobnob together and crowd and push 
each other on leaves or along branches until one wonders how 
there can be so many of anything in the world. Sometimes they 
are green, sometimes blue-black, sometimes deep purple-red — 
indeed they are resourceful as to color schemes, for they dye 
themselves, from the inside, with the juices of the plant they feed 
upon — or so it seems. 

By this you will know that they belong to the vampire class 
of creation — they are sucking insects and not biters. They must 
be treated from the outside therefore, for nothing put onto the 
surface of a leaf will reach their interiors, as their bills are pushed 



Cultural Suggestions 173 

away down into the plant's tender tissues, pumping at its life 
fluids. But common soapsuds will kill them, happily. It may 
take a lot of it and the task of spraying it onto them is by no 
means an easy one, for they tuck themselves craftily away 
underneath leaves, which then curl around them and make 
regular little tents, shedding soapsuds as well as rain. 

All plants are liable to suffer from the depredations of these 
creatures. They are indeed the commonest of the minor insects, 
living alike on a willow tree sprig or a nasturtium flower, a rose 
bush or a lettuce head. Some things seem to be ever free from 
them, but I always have a haunting sense of "no telling" — 
they may be almost anywhere next time one looks. The main 
thing is just to look ; getting rid of them is not really hard. 

It should be done promptly, however, and thoroughly, for they 
soon take all the life from the thing they attack. Use white 
Castile or Ivory soap, pour on boiling water and work up a 
strong foam, then cool until the hands can be borne in it 
comfortably and use at once. Spray twice, on successive days 
and then watch and spray again after a day or two perhaps. 
A solitary individual remaining will mean a bush alive with 
them again within an unbelievably short time. 

As a last word, let me caution all who buy plants to buy of 
only the recognized first-class nurserymen. Money is wasted 
when put into plants from any but the very best stock ; care of 
the best stock is expensive and good plants cannot therefore 
be produced at cheap rates. It is better to buy less, if necessary — 
to extend the planting of a place over two or three years or more — 
than to buy inferior specimens, whether the inferiority is in size 
or quality. Make a point too of buying always from a nursery 
north, rather than south, of your own latitude. 



INDEX 



Abies, 103 

Accessories, 157 

Acer, 50, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95 

Act(^a, 26 

Adiantum, 19 

Adonis, 128 

Aes cuius, 93 

African daisy, 131 

Ageratum, 149 

Akebia, 59 

Alder, 23, 117, 139 

Almond, 116 

Alnus, 23, 117, 139 

Alpines, 8 

AUhcBa, 129 

Alum root, 27 

Alyssum, 149 

Amelanchier , 19 

Ampelopsis, 10, ii, 57, 58, 60 

Amygdalus, 116 

Anacharis, 25 

Andromeda, 61 

Anemone, 18, 26 

Annual, 125, 130, 149 

Aphid, 172 

Appalachian tea, 142 

Aquatics, 23 

Aquilegia, 17 

Arahis, 13 

Arbor, 77, 83, 151, 152, 154 

Arbovitae, 36, 37, 38, 65, 105 

Arch, 40, 82, 83, 85, 126 

Arctostaphylos , 16 

Arctotis, 131 

Armeria, 148 

Arrowwood, 142 

Arum, 23 

Asarum, 19 



Asclepias, 18 
Ash, 70, 96 
Aster, 19, 123, 130 
Azalea, 23 

Baby's breath, 130 

Bachelor's buttons, 131 

Bamboo, 7 

Baneberry, 26 

Barberry, 20, 49, 60, 78, 139, 143 

Bearberry, 16 

Beauty fruit, 116 

Beech, 36, 84, 90, 91 

Bees, 162 

Beetleweed, 15 

Belvedere, 150, 155 

Benzoin, 117 

Berberis, 20, 49, 60, 78, 14a 

Betula, 70, 93, 95, 96,97 

Bignonia, 54, 60 

Birch, 70, 93, 95, 96, 97 

Bird bath ,125 

Bird cherry, 97 

Bird's eye, 128 

Bishop's cap, 15 

Black alder, 23 

Black haw, 71 

Bloodroot, 18 

Bluebell, 16 

Blue bottle, 131 

Blue spruce, loi 

Bluet, 131 

Bog, 6, 20, 96 

Bog garden, 9 

Boltonia, 130 

Border, 122 

Boston ivy, 57, 58 

Boundaries, 73 



174 



Bower, 150, 155 

Boxwood, 12, 37, 38, 39, 104 

Brascnia, 24 

Buddlea, 27 

Biiddleia, 27 

Bugbane, 27 

Bulbs, 125, 133 

Bunchberry, 26, 75 (see Cornel) 

Butterfly weed, 18 

Buttonbush, 23 

Btixits, 37, 38, 39, 104 

Cahomha, 25 
Calendula, 131 
Callicarpa, 116 
Calopogon, 22 
Caltha, 21 
Calycanthus, 117 
Campanula, 16 
Camptosorus, 15 
Candytuft, 131, 148 
Cardinal flower, 21 
Care, general garden, 164 
Carolina allspice, 117 
Carpitius, 84 
Caryopteris, 28 
Casino, 150, 155 
Castanea, 90 
Catalpa, 39, 40, 93 

3atchfly, 14 

Zeanothiis, 28 

^edar, 17, 37, 65, 102, 105 

;)eltis, 96 

7entaurea, 131 

7ephalanthus, 23 

'berets, 85 

^hamcecy parts, 105 
hamomile (false), 130 
herry, 95, 97 
hestnut, 90 
hokeberry, 22 
^chrysanthemum, 26, 50, 108, 129 



Cimicifuga, 27 

Clematis, 57, 59, 60, 129 

Cleome, 132 

Clethra, 20, 117 

Climbers, 52, 53, 54 

Cockspur thorn, 78 

Coltsfoot, 15 

Columbine, 18 

Columnar forms, 37, 38 

Comptonia, 16 

Convolvulus, 54, 78 

Conifer, 65, 98 

Coral bells, 27 

Coreopsis, 108 

Cornel, 10, 26, 28, 50, 71, 84, 139, 

142 (dogwood) 
Cornus, 26, 28, 50, 71, 84, 139, 142 

(dogwood) 
Cowslip (American), 18 
Cranberry, 20 
Cranesbill, 14 
Crataegus, 78 
Crimson glory vine, 85 
Cupressus, 105 < 

Cut-and-come-again, 132 
Cyclamen (American), 18 
Cypress, 38 
Cypripedium, 22 

Dahlia, 108 

Daisy, 123, 129, 131 

Damask violet, 26 

Dame's rocket, 26 

Daphne, 16, 49 

Day lily, 26 

Deciduous, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 6$, 

68, 86, 104 
Delphinium, 25, 129, 130 
Deutzia, 28, 49, 50, 115 
Dianthus, 25 
Dicksonia, 17 
Diervilla, 28, 50, 71, 115 



175 



Digitalis, 27, 129 
Dodocatheon, 18 
Dogwood, 28, 71 (see Cornel) 
Driveway, 41, 42, 49 

Edging, 37, 148 

Elder, 10, 20, 117, 123 

Eleagnus, 27 

Elm, 84, 93 

English ivy, 57, 58 

Entrance, 41, 46, 80 

Euonymous, 58, 139 

Evergreen, 34, 35,37, 38, 39, 40, 65, 

68, 98, 105, 140, 167 
Exedra, 157 

Fagus, 36 

False chamomile, 130 

Fence, 77, 82 

Ferns, 6, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21 

Field work, 1 1 1 

Fir, 103 

Floating heart, 24 

Floss flower, 149 

Flower bed, 120 

Flowering hedge, 78 

Flowers, 118, 125, 126 

Formal garden, 7, 30, 31 

Forsythia, 27, 51, 54, 60, 70, 71, 115 

Fountain, 162 

Foxglove, 27, 129 

Fragrance, 116, 157 

Fraxinus, 96 

Funkia, 130 

Furniture, 157 

Galanthus, 133 

Galax, 15 

Garden, i, 2, 29, 125, 126, 135 

Garden furniture, 157 

Garden house, 150 

Garden structure, 150 



Garland flower, 16 

Gate, 82, 83 

Gateway, 41, 80 

Gayfeather, 18 

Gazebo, 151, 155 

General care, 164 

Gentian, 15 

Gentiana, 15, 22 

Geranium, 14 

Ginger, 19 

Globe forms, 35, 39 

Golden bells, 27, 51, 60, 70, 71, 115 

Goldenrod, 123 

Goldfish, 10 

Grape, 54 

Gypsophila, 130 

Hahencria, 22 

Hackberry, 96 

Hackmatack, 96 

Harebell, 16 

Hawthorn, 78 

Hedcra, 57, 58 

Hedge, 35, 65, 78, 84, 140 

Helianthemum, 14 

Hellebore, 22 

Hellonias, 21 

Hemerocallis, 26 

Hemlock, 35, 38, 64, 65, 70, 103 

Herbaceous plants (see Perennials) 

Hesperis, 26 

Heuchera, 27 

Hibiscus, 7, 21, 28, 70, 79, 115 

Hillside, 11 

Hollyhock, 129 

Honeysuckle, 23, 50, 57, 60, 71, 78, 

Hornbeam, 84 
Hydrangea, 51, 79, 116 
Hypericum, 16, 115 

Iberis, 131, 148 



176 



Ilex, 23 

Indian currant, 28, 139 
Indian poke, 22 
nsects, 172 
Iris, 6, 21, 25, 123 
Ivy, 10, 54, 57, 58 

Jack-in-the-pulpit, 11 
Judas tree, 84, 85 
Juneberry, 19 
Juniper, 17, 37 
Juniperus, 17, 37, 102 105 

Labrador tea, 22 

Lady's slipper, 22 

Larch, 96 

Larix, 96 

Larkspur, 25, 129, 130 

Lattice, 82, 162 

Lawn, 169 

Layering, 78 

Ledum, 22 

Lemon lily, 26 

Liatris, 18 

Ligustrnin, 28, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 64, 

70 
Lilac, 50, 79, 115 (see Syringa) 
Lily, 26, 130 

Lily-of- the- valley shrub, 61 
Limnanthemum, 24 
Linden, 95 
Liqiddambar , 90 
Lobelia, 21 
Locust, 96 

Loggia, 125, 150, 154 
Lonicera, 50, 57, 60, 71, 78, 85, 115 
Louse (see Aphid) 
Lupine, 128 
Lupinus, 128 
Lyciwn, 54 

Madwort, 149 



Maidenhair fern, 19 

Maple, 50, 90, 91, 92, 95 

Marigold, 21, 131 

Marshmallow, 7, 21, 123 

Marsh marigold, 21 

Matrimony vine, 54 

Matthiola, 132 

Meadowsweet, 123 

Mezereon pink, 49 

Mitella, 15 

Mitre wort, 15 

Mock orange, 117 (see Philadelphus) 

Morning glory, 54, 78 

Mosses, 8 

Moss pink, 17 

Mountain ash, 70 

Mulch, 168 

Narcissus, 134 
Naturalizing, 133 
Nettle tree, 96 
New Jersey tea, 28 
Niche, 40 
Nymphcea, 24 

Oak, 90, 96, 97 
Orchid, 6, 22 
Ornithogalum, 134 
Osmunda, 21 

Paeonia, 128 

Papaver, 13, 132 

Peltandra, 23 

Peony, 128 

Pepperbush, 20 

Perennials, 12, 13 to 19, 21 to 27, 

128, 148 
Pergola, 151, 152, 153 
Philadelphus, 117 (mock orange) 
Phlox, 17, 128, 132 
Picea, 102, 105, io6 
Pickerel weed, 24 



177 



Pieris, 6i 

Pin cherry, 97 

Pine, 68, 99, 102, 105, 106 

Pink, 17, 49 

Pinon, 98 

Pinus, 68, 99, 102, 105, 106 

Pitcher plant, 6, 21 

Plan, 46, 47, 63, 68, 69, 89, 112, 

116, 125, 126, 147 
Plantain lily, 131 
Planting, 47, 68, 112, 116, 164 
Plant louse (see Aphid) 
Plash, 76 

Pleach, 40, 76, 83, 84 
Pleurisy root, 18 
Poison ivy, 11 
Pondeteria, 24 
Pool, 9, 93, 161 
Poplar, 37, 70, 89, 95 
Poppy, 13, 132 
Populus, 37, 70 
Pot marigold, 131 
Privet, 28, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 64, 

70, 84, 140 
Protection, 136 
Pruning, 35, 166, 168 
Prunus, 95, 97, 116 
Pyramid forms, 35, 38 
Pyrus, 22 

Quercns, 90, 96, 97 

Ragged sailor, 131 
Ramblers, 64 
Red-bud, 84, 85 
Red osier, 142 
Retinospora, 38 
Rhododendron, 103 
Rhus, 10, 16, 20, 117 
Rhus toxicodendron, 11 
Road, 41 
Robinia, 96 



Rock cress, 13 

Rockfoil, 15 

Rocky land, 8, 13 

Rock plants, 8 

Rock rose, 14 

Rosa, 23, 27, 51, 57, 64, 79, 85, 141 

Rose, 23, 27, 51, 54, 57, 64, 79, 85, 

108, 137, 139, 141 
Rose mallow, 7,21 
Rose of Sharon, 28, 70, 79, 115 
Rowan tree, 70 
Rustic work, 156 

Salix, 84 

Sambucus, 10, 20, 117 

Sanguinea, 18 

Saponaria, 18 

Sarracenia, 21 

Saxifraga, 15 

Saxifrage, 15 

Scilla, 133 

Screen, 62, 63 

Sea pink, 148 

Seat, 126, 157 

Sedum, 14, 19 

Sequoia, 138 

Service berry, 19 

Shadbush, 19 

Shade, 15, 18, 21, 26, 28, 49, 86, 88, 

92, 93, 94, 104 
Shadow, 89, 92, 94, 104 
Shasta daisy, 129 
Shooting star, 18 
Shrubbery, 109, 112 
Shrubs, 16, 19, 22, 27, 28, 69, 70, 

107, 115, 141 
Silene, 14 
Silver thorn, 27 
Smilacina, 19 
Snowberry, 61, 139 
Snowdrop, 133 
Soap wort, 18 



178 



Soil, poor, 9, 17, 95, 105 

Soil, rocky, 79, 106 

Soil, wet, 96, 105 

Solidago, 123 

Solomon's seal, 19 

Sorbus, 22, 70 

Specimens, 37 

Spice bush, 117 

Spider flower, 132 

SpircBa, 28, 51, 71, 79, 123 

Spruce, 65, 70, loi, 102, 105, 106 

Squills, 133 

Stagbush, 71 

Standard forms, 35, 39 

Star of Bethlehem, 134 

Statuary, 125, 162 

Stepping stones, 48 

St. John's wort, 16, 115 

Stocks, 132 

Stonecrop, 14, 19 

Stony land, 9, 17 

Strawberry shrub, 117 

Structures, 150 

Stud pink, 21 

Style, 29 

Sub-aquatic, 25 

Suburban, 25, 46 

Stmiach, 10, 16, 20, 117 

Summer house, 151 

Sun (plants for), 13, 17, 21, 25, 27, 

Sun-dial, 125, 126, 159, 160 

Sun rose, 14 

Swallow wort, 18 

Swamp pink, 21 

Sweet fern, 16 

Sweet gum, 90 

Sweet pea, 78 

Sweet pepperbush, 117 

Sweet-scented plants, 116, 157 

Sweet shrub, 117 

Sweet William, 25, 149 



Symphoricarpos , 28, 61 
Syringa, 50, 79, 115 (Lilac) 

Table, 158 

Tamarack, 96 

Tecoma, 54, 60 

Terrace, 11 

Thrift, 148 

Thorn, 78 

Thuya, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 105 

Tilia, 95 

Tillage, 171 

Transplanting, 165, 167 

Trees, 68, 70. 86, 93, 95, 96, 98 

Trellis, 55, 77, 82 

Trillium, 6 

Trumpet creeper, 54, 60 

Tsuga, 35, 38, 40, 70, 103. 

Ulmus, 84, 93 
Uncleared land, 10 

Vegetable garden, 143 

Veratrum, 22 

Viburnum, 10, 20, 39, 71, 116, 139, 

142 
Vines, 52, 53, 55, 58, 85 
Virginia creeper, 10 
Virgin's bower, 57, 59, 129 
Vista, 62 
Vitis, 54, 59, 85 

Walk, 41, 42, 43, 46, 49 
Walking leaf, 15 
Wall, 77 

Washington grass, 25 
Water arum, 23 
Watering, 170 
Water lily, 24 
Water shield, 24 
Waterweed, 25 
Wayfaring tree, 116 



179 



Weeds, 169 

Weigela, 28, 50, 71, 115 

Wild cherr}'-, 95, 97 

Wild flowers, 4 

Wild garden, 7 

Wild ginger, 19 

Wild growth, 19, 75, 122 

Willow. 84 

Windflower, 18, 26 



Winter, 135 
Winterberry, 23 
Winter garden, 140 
Winter protection, 136 
Wistaria, 54, 57, 58 
Witherod, 142 
Woodbine, 10, 11 
Wych elm, 84 



347 93 

180 






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